Chapter 88: The Warmth of Family

"Alright, dinner's ready~" the woman said, taking her apron off.

The man - my father - ruffled my hair and set his newspaper down. "Come on, little guy. There's nothing like your mother's cooking in this world."

I wiped my tears away, and without thinking too much, I followed him, sitting down at the dinner table.

"Why are you crying, Kaze?" the woman - my mother - asked.

"N-Nothing… it's just… how?" I wondered aloud desperately. "How am I here? How are YOU here? Aren't you two… dead?"

The two of them blinked collectively, then burst out laughing. "Hahaha! Who told you that, little guy? Your mother and I are still well and alive, thank you very much. You just saw us this morning, what are you talking about?"

"Hehe, that's not a very good joke, Kaze," my mother smiled as she set down chopsticks for all three of us on the table.

I placed my hand to my forehead and gritted my teeth. "No… this can't be right…"

The room, my parents, the food… everything seemed so real. But for some reason, I couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. What had I been doing before coming back home…? I couldn't remember, no matter how hard I thought about it.

I hesitantly picked up my chopsticks and delivered some rice into my mouth. I closed my eyes and enjoyed the flavor - the flavor of home. But beneath that… there was something else. A hidden coldness - emptiness - masked by the fragrant scent of jasmine rice.

The food was delicious. There was no doubt about that. Still, I could not ignore this uneasy feeling inside my stomach.

"By the way," I began, remembering a hazy memory. Not of something, but of someone.

"Yes?" my mother asked warmly.

"Is there… any girl in particular who I'm close to…?" I asked, scratching my head. "I keep getting these weird hallucinations about a tall girl with black hair, but… I can't seem to remember her face, for some reason…"

My father chuckled. "A girl? Boy, you're too early for that kind of thing. Give it a few more years."

"You say that, but didn't we start going out in middle school?" my mother laughed softly.

"W-Well, you can't compare him to me back then, haha!"

I frowned in confusion. "… So there isn't…?"

"Of course not, silly guy. Are you listening to yourself? You say you keep getting these visions of a girl, but you don't even remember her face. Besides, if you had a girl that close to you, we, as your parents, would know, don't you think?"

"Uh, yeah… I suppose that's true…" I racked my brain, trying to figure out what was going on with me.

"If you ever find a girl you like, make sure to let me know, okay?" my mother giggled. "I'll give you tips on how to win a girl's heart, teehee-!"

"…" I glanced down at the bowl of rice in front of me, head filled with confusion.

After eating, I headed off to bed. For reasons unexplained, I felt an odd sense of familiarity with the structure of this place, though I couldn't be sure why. My parents… I was told they were dead. But by who? Who gave me this information? I couldn't remember.

I took a shower in an attempt to clear my thoughts, but the steam only served to make me more confused and suffocated. I eventually gave up and just fell asleep.

This was good… yes, this was good. Forget about the past, leave behind the memories. Start a new life… one surrounded by the warmth of my real family.

… Yet, I could not.

No matter how hard I tried, I could not erase the image of that girl in my head. I tried telling myself - she was fake. She was just an imaginary person I came up with to soothe my own loneliness. But now, I had my family back. I didn't know how - but that didn't matter.

My father and mother… had reunited with me at last.

*****

- The Next Morning -

"Kaze, it's time for school~" my mother called out from downstairs.

Slowly, I opened my eyes groggily and crawled out of bed. Still only half-awake, I stumbled into the bathroom and splashed my face with some water.

"Whoo…" I let out a deep breath, feeling a lot more refreshed. Glancing down at my toothbrush and paste, I picked them up and began brushing my teeth.

Minutes later, I headed downstairs, where my parents were already up and awake.

"Oh my, you actually woke up after only one call today," my mother blinked in surprise, as if impressed with me.

I tilted my head. "Do I… usually not wake up on time?"

My father laughed from the couch. "Bahaha! You and waking up on time don't belong in the same sentence!"

"You say that, but don't you sleep like a log on weekends?" my mother scoffed.

"W-Well, that's… that's not important!"

"Hehe, Kaze, come here. Since you woke up earlier today, I'll reward you by teaching you how to cook… an unhealthy breakfast!"

An unhealthy breakfast… why did that term seem so familiar? And 'log on' too… those two words, for some reason, felt like they had been said to me recently, though I couldn't remember by whom or when exactly.

I walked over to my mother, who helped put an apron on me. The motion was, yet again, strangely familiar. The mysterious girl with black hair once again showed up in my head, but I quickly perished the thought.

"What are we making?" I asked, trying to take my mind off things.

"Sunny-side-up eggs and fried bacon!" my mother announced confidently. "Okay, so first step - pour some oil into the pan!"

I did as instructed. While I cooked, the memories of the girl resurfaced in my mind, but I quickly shook my head to erase it.

She did not exist, I told myself. This was the life I had always been yearning for - the life filled with the warmth of my biological family. The parents I had sought for all these years has finally come back to us.

… Even if this were just a dream, I wanted to relish this dream for but a moment longer, and cherish it forever in my heart.

*****

I set off for school soon after that. My father offered to drive me, but since that would delay him getting to work, I refused. I stepped out onto the sidewalk, and instinctively looked to my left.

However, there was no house there - only the road. We did not have a neighbor to our left… what am I thinking?

I shook my head and walked to my school - Tokyo Metropolitan Kawasaki High School. I memorized the directions on how to get there since the first day.

The school day passed without much happening. I didn't have any friends in the school, but that was fine. At least, no one particularly bothered me on purpose, so it was better than before.

Wait… before? What before? What am I talking about?

"Agh…" I necked myself to clear my thoughts as I walked alone, on my way back home. But as I passed by a plaza, my eyes landed on a shop. A poster on the windows of that shop, in particular.

'Ascension: Online - the latest ARMMORPG, out now!'

I froze in my tracks. Ascension: Online… getting stuck inside a video game… the Vault of Deception…

… That's it. The Vault of Deception.

I clenched my fists, my expression darkening.

All my memories were back.

*****

I rang the doorbell to my 'home'. Moments later, it was opened. Inside, my father and mother were already waiting.

"Welcome home, little guy! I got off work early today, so you guys wanna eat out today?" my father asked.

But I ignored him.

"Kaze…?" my mother, sensing something was wrong with me, stopped washing the knife and turned to me in concern.

My eyes as cold as steel and dripping with venom, I strode over to my mother and ripped the knife out of her hand without any hesitation.

And then, I stabbed my own hand, impaling it with the blade.

My mother and father's eyes widened. "Kaze! What are you doing?!"

I glared at them in the eyes, pulling the knife back out and letting the blood from the hole in my hands drip down onto the floor.

"It's a lie… IT'S ALL A LIE!" I yelled, throwing the knife downwards, lodging it into the wooden planks.

"W-What…?"

"Don't play dumb with me, you damn illusion!" I shouted, grabbing my mother by her collar with my bloody hand.

"Pretending to be my dead parents… toying with my emotions…"

"Kaze! What are you doing?! Let go of your mothe-"

"… And most of all…" I gritted my teeth.

I spun around, and in one jump, arrived directly before my father's persona. Grabbing him by the forehead, I smashed him downwards, breaking the wooden planks below.

"Making me forget Hina-nee… forget all she's done for me! CURSE YOU!"

Not letting go of my father's head, I lifted it out of the planks, then smashed it back in. And up, and in.

With a killing gleam in my eyes filled both with anger and sadness, I muttered.

"Die, illusion."

My father, despite his unrecognizable face, slowly smiled. And in harmony with my mother, they spoke their final few words.

"… That's our kid. Good job."

I closed my eyes tightly, tears flowing down my cheeks, as the room and my parents along with it shattered into fragments of reality, revealing nothing but a blank, empty whiteness all around.

"Farewell, mother… father."