Chapter 273 - Home

The match ended and Vengeance were all lying on the ground, perspiring and catching their breath. Obviously, they would lose and as expected, they lost.

"Frauds!"

Sean shouted as he looked at the night sky. Dusk had already arrived.

Trisha laughed at this. Compared to the losing team, she was dry as if she didn't move at all.

"Stop being sore losers, this is really our first time, right, Teren?"

Teren just nodded as he took his bag.

"It was fun."

"Why are these two not tired at all?"

Gomaro asked as he sat up. The game began with Nick doing almost all the work while Teren and Trisha making fouls. Kim, Sean, and Sam kept shooting points after they get past Nick. Truthfully, Nick was the only obstacle at first. However, the other two began catching up.

Nick would always pass the ball towards Teren and Trisha whenever he can. Thus, the first half was heavily tilted towards Vengeance. Of course, the two began learning and kept shooting as if Sean and his team were just children in front of them.

In the end, Trisha scored the most while Nick second. Teren scored the least since he would always give the ball to Trisha. There are times that even though it was open, he would rather give it to Trisha.

Why? Well, she was having fun, he thought.

Thus, he helped Nick with the defense as the latter got tired. At that point, Teren didn't let their opponents score a single point while Trisha would always slam the ball. That's because she actually has bad aim.

She's not omnipotent, this was still her first time. But she enjoyed it and actually wants to play against Teren next but he has somewhere to go. Thinking about this, her mood soured a little.

"Are you going straight to that imp?"

Trisha asked. She actually forgot Lina's name a long time ago and had been calling her imp since then.

"I'll go visit her at midnight, I still have something else to do."

Nick didn't know what they were talking about and said goodbye. It was already nighttime. But before he leaves, Teren gave him money for teaching him.

"This is not the last. If you want to, you join me to help Mike's team."

"Wow..." it was Trisha who reacted as she saw how thick the bundle of money is. This rekindled her love for money. After her encounter with Teren, she became less attracted to other things. But now, her former self was returning.

"Actually... this is too much."

"No, take it. Just be there in the match, next time." Teren said as an order not to make Nick guilty. If Teren became too nice, the money would become too much. Nick just smiled, aware of what Teren was doing.

"Sure! I'll be there, see you tomorrow!"

After Nick left, Trisha immediately hugged Teren's arm.

"Master,"

She said making Teren frown.

"Umm, do you need something?"

This made Trisha giggle, "Am I that obvious? Well, actually, I want to ask where the hell are you getting all those money from?"

"You want some?"

"Yeah, but don't give it to me. It's an insult."

Trisha then released Teren and explained to which the latter realized what she was going for.

"Oh, you want a job?"

"Yes! Business is something I've very weak at. To be honest, I hate it with my guts! Just like math but I still want money!"

Trisha said without holding herself back. But her excitement piped down seeing Catherine waiting from outside the court. 

"Congrats on winning."

Catherine said but her face says otherwise. Teren didn't want another fight to occur again so he said-

"Trisha, I'll just talk to you tomorrow about it." 

"Wait, does your plan includes her?"

Trisha pointed at Catherine which the latter was insulted.

"Ugh, yes. What about it?"

'They're going to do it...' Trisha squinted her eyes, a little hurt, 'Why didn't he just ask me? But, now that I think about it, whenever I invite him, it's like he's getting forced...'

Her eyes became a little teary.

'So, he likes doing it more to other girls than me. I thought he did it rougher to me?'

"Are you going to come home tonight?" she didn't try to show she's hurt though.

"Hm, maybe past midnight."

Teren answered to which Catherine raised an eyebrow.

"Past midnight? Where will you be going?"

"I just have to be somewhere." Teren didn't feel comfortable telling Catherine the thing about Lina.

"Oh, I thought you're planning for us to stay overnight."

"No, of course not. There's no point in that." Teren replied to Catherine which confuses Trisha a little bit.

"Well, anyway, I'll be waiting at your house later."

Trisha before waving goodbye. Before she left, she lightly kicked Chihua awake. He fell unconscious when he saw that Trisha suddenly clung to Teren.

Good thing that he didn't hear what she just said or he might die for real.

"Huh? What does she mean by that?"

Catherine said. Teren didn't have a problem with people knowing his relationship with Trisha. But explaining everything is such a hassle so he just replied.

"Maybe she needs something in my house tomorrow."

"Oh, is that so?" 

Catherine has a lot of questions to ask that she didn't know where to start first.

"Where are the two?"

Teren asked before she could.

"You mean Eline and Mira?"

"Yeah, I'm surprised that you three are together earlier. I thought you're inviting them for later."

"No, no, they were just curious about the basketball thing." Catherine explained, "And unlike me, those two can't always stay outside this late since, you know, about the incident."

There were a lot of incidents so Teren didn't know what she was talking about.

"... it's about the ruin of district 4." she continued after seeing Teren's pondering gaze.

"Oh, yeah. Well, how about you?"

"Ha..." Catherine gave a bothered smile as she tried to mockingly laugh at her own, "As if they even know I exist."

"Something happened at you house?"

Teren had a fair share of a broken family so he can sympathize with her.

"No, I don't want to talk about it..."

Understanding where she was coming from, Teren continued with his own story.

"I don't really get along with my family now too."

"Oh, that's right, I don't know a thing about your family too." Catherine took interest as if she found someone with the same situation.

"You want me to tell you?"

"Sure, I mean, if you want to."

Catherine fidgeted.

"Why not, but I don't think it's a good story."

"Sorry to be rude but I already expect that." Catherine felt like she was threading on a thin line as she said that.

Sensing this, Teren smiled, "Don't be bothered by it, I've already moved on from it."

"Sure..."

"Hmm, where do I start? I guess it all start when my father gave me the knife."

Catherine raised an eyebrow, not knowing where this will be going. But from seeing how Teren turned out, his past should be complicated, right?

"A knife?"

"It was not an ordinary knife. It has many uses relating to Spirits."

"Spirits again, huh..."

"It would be weird to be not. My father is a specialists towards it. As the surface world progresses did so the otherworld hidden from the public. But unlike science, Spirits are detached from universal laws so studying it is harder than quantum physics from what I heard. It's because it's unknown and-"

"Yeah, I get the thing about quantum, I get that I don't get it." Catherine's head aches hearing about that word, saying that he should just continue the story.

This made Teren lighty laugh before continuing.

"Okay, so, with that knife, he wants me stab my mom with it."

"Hm... wait, what?"

Catherine's face paled, imagining her own father ask her to stab her own mother. Is she hearing a fictional tragic story?

"I don't know everything but I did it." 

Teren said while his eyes lifeless. 

"I don't really remember."

"You stabbed your mother...?"

"..." Teren just smiled, not knowing what to say. Before, it was harder to say it Iesa so he just started, saying that he killed his father. Maybe it's because he cares most about Iesa's reaction. Will she hate him?

Although he doesn't want Catherine to hate him either, it was a whole level down from Iesa. He said it with a heavy chest but he was able to. 

"C-continue..."

Catherine said which surprised Teren a bit. He thought she would be more disgusted by him. Her words back then still echoes in his mind every time he does something terrible.

By then they reached the karaoke and Teren continued his story. 

"My mom's Spirit became the Great Spirit of Greed. I think she and my father agreed on this. After that moment, my father looked at me differently from before... as if I'm not his son."

"Huh? But wasn't he telling you to do it?"

"Yeah, but I think he wants me to stop him and I didn't." Teren's eyelides dropped, "When I stabbed her, she cried."

[I didn't want it this way..]

A voice came back to his head as he recalled the past events.