[99] Realization and Acceptance

[99] Realization and Acceptance

Chapter 99: Realization and Acceptance

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In a room where darkness was almost tangible, Ai Hoshino sat motionless, her form a mere shadow slumped against the bed frame. The dim moonlight filtered through a narrow slit in the curtains, casting a ghostly glow across the room.

It touched her face, highlighting her hollow, haunted eyes, where black stars whirled in endless orbits. Her lips were parched and cracked, making anyone ponder when she had last hydrated herself.

The room was eerily silent, disturbed only by the occasional whisper of the night wind against the windowpane. Time itself appeared to have come to a standstill within these four walls, creating a pocket of gloomy reality where Ai was lost in her own world of torment and betrayal.

“Haah...” Intermittently, she let out sighs punctuated by hollow laughter, devoid of any real mirth, as if mocking her own desolate state.

Lost in her thoughts as she was, pondering over memories she was unsure of the truth of, she barely registered the sound of her phone as it began to ring.

The device lay forgotten on the floor, she had been canceling and ignoring calls all day long. So she subconsciously ignored these calls too. The first ring went unnoticed, as did the second ring, a faint echo in the distance of her mind.

By the third ring, a flicker of awareness began to pierce her stupor. On the fourth ring, her hand twitched involuntarily, a reflex born from habit as a celebrity was trained to give her calls immediate attention.

With a slow, almost reluctant movement, Ai reached out and picked up the phone. Her sunken eyes squinted against the harsh light of the screen. “An unknown number...?”

A spark of curiosity nudged at the edges of her despair. ‘Could this be...’ she quickly shook her head. It couldn’t be him, and even if it was, it’s not like she wanted to talk to him. He had left, and she was content with it.

Still, her heart was pounding in a rhythm of dread and anticipation. With a hesitant finger, she swiped to answer the call.

The voice behind the phone sent chills down her spine.

"Hello, Ai," came the voice from the other end, startlingly familiar yet unwelcome.

Ai's eyes widened in shock, and a rush of emotions flooded through her. "...Hikaru?" she whispered, her voice barely audible. Even after this long, she recognized his voice. Not out of love, any remnant of that had been killed 11 years ago, but out of pure fury.

"Oh, you recognized me. Yes, it's me. I've been thinking about you. How have you been?" Her EX’s voice was calm, almost soothing, but it only served to fuel Ai's growing anger.

"Where are you now? Would you like to meet?" he continued when she only offered silence. “Ai? Hello?”

Ai's grip on the phone tightened, her nails digging into the plastic. "This pathetic bastard! How dare you call me now, after all these years!?" she hissed, her voice laced with venom.

“...”

"You have some nerve, you monster! You think I am unaware of what you did 11 years ago?! The only reason I stayed quiet and didn’t call the police is because of the lack of evidence, and the possibility that you’ll leak out our secret—and that my children will grow up knowing their father is a fucking criminal rotting in jail! Fuck off!"

Hikaru tried to interject, but Ai was beyond listening. Her anger boiled over, and with a scream of rage, she hurled the phone against the floor. It shattered on impact, pieces scattering across the room. A few hit her too, but her awakened body was too strong to be hurt by that.

“Haaah...”

Silence once again descended upon the room, oppressive and heavy, like a thick blanket smothering every corner of Ai's existence. Her chest rose and fell with ragged, uneven breaths, each one a struggle against the overwhelming emotions that threatened to consume her. Her gaze, hollow and desolate, was fixated on the remnants of the shattered phone that lay scattered on the floor.

The dark room felt like a tomb to her, sealing her within its unyielding walls. The faint glow of the moonlight did little to dispel the gloom that had settled deep within her soul.

“Sarina,” she started as Ruby’s body froze. This was the first time they were talking since the incident. “Was that your last name?”

After a short silence, Ruby nodded. “Yes.”

“How did Aqua know? Did you two share details with one another?” Ai asked. She was hoping to learn more about Aqua, and if Ruby knew that would be fantastic.

“Not really. I never even told him my name. He did tell me his, well, it was more of a title, but yeah. But as you saw, he somehow knew my name. I think he read my mind and learned it. There was an incident like that back when we were kids. He... touched my forehead and all of a sudden I saw everything from my previous life, like a flashback.”

She blinked, “Oh, and before you misunderstand, I already knew I was reincarnated before that; that magic didn’t awaken my previous life’s memories or anything like that.” Ruby clarified. “But I think maybe from there, he saw bits of my memories too...”

Ai frowned. So she didn’t know much? That was a pity. Ai was curious about his show of multiple personalities. She hadn’t bothered to think too much about it as Sherlock Holmes since she was busy stabilizing her emotions after realizing he was a reincarnator. There were multiple possibilities to what that might indicate, but she didn’t know for sure. She lacked evidence to reach a proper conclusion.

“Wait,” Ai looked into Ruby’s eyes. “You said he told you his name?”

“Well, not quite. It was a title. I asked who he was like in his past life, out of curiosity since he knew all this magic stuff, and he said...” Ruby hesitated, “The Emperor of Mankind, Sage of Humanity. And recently, he told me he ruled over 150,000 worlds. But I am not sure if he was telling the truth...”

“....”

That sounded absurd, but strangely enough, Ai believed it. Now it seemed funny when she called him a weebo bastard who could never touch a woman’s hand. Naturally, she was lying back then, she had seen him flirt with two Goddesses and at the same time stand his ground without being intimidated. That was a giveaway that he was someone big in his last life.

However, didn’t he say he was a fan of hers in his past life? Both of them together sounded contradictory, which would make it that one of them was a lie. Yet she was sure that he wasn’t lying at all during their last talk. When she recalled his split personality, it made sense why, and she realized the truth.

“So that’s how it is,” she sighed, leaning back on the couch. “No wonder he couldn’t see me as his mother.” Ai let out another sigh, this one sounding harrowing.

“Mama... he cares about you. A lot. Trust me when I say that.” Ruby looked up at her while tears ran down her face, yet she reached out to continue patting her hair.

Now that Ai was calm, she didn’t feel angry at him anymore. She just accepted things as they were. He wasn’t at fault, he probably didn’t choose to be reincarnated as her son as he said, but... it’s not as if she was at fault either.

She couldn’t see a man who had lived multiple lives, with multiple mothers, as her own son. Just like how he didn’t see her as his mother.

– Ding Dong!

Her moment of sad acceptance shattered abruptly with the sudden, jarring ring of the doorbell, and Ai frowned again. Ruby looked at the door, and her words relieved her, “It’s Tsubasa.”

Ruby got up, leaving Ai, and opened the door. Ai’s heightened perceptions could catch their conversation from here, but her mind was unfocused, so she missed it.

A moment later, Ruby returned with a hesitant look on her face, “Um, Mama... Onii-chan is here.”

“....” For some reason, Ai’s heart quickened.

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