Honoka couldn't help but grit her teeth and thought to herself, 'Why does it have to be our daughter?'
Diehauser somehow guessed what they were thinking and added, "As much as you can blame him, it's also undeniable that she was able to survive until this point thanks to him."
Honoka failed to hold herself back and raised her voice, "What do you mean!? If not for him, my daughter wouldn't be in this situation!"
Although she knew where she was coming from, Sakura gritted her teeth and refuted it, "My esteemed brother isn't wrong! If not for Kisuke, Aika-chan might have already perished in these troubling times!"
Honoka was about to shoot back but Haruto stopped her in time, "Honoka... I too am angry. But we're here to listen, remember?"
Honoka bit her lips in frustration but was able to hold herself back.
Since the conversation was getting heated, Cleria cleared her throat to take the reins back before proceeding to explain, "In the world we live in, the ordinary world and supernatural world aren't as separated as you'd think, and the biggest contributing factor to this is the Sacred Gear System of Heaven."
"Sacred Gears, to explain simply, are magical tools that attach themselves to Humans the moment they are born, regardless of their involvement to both sides. Normally, Sacred Gears that appear on normal people would remain hidden until the end of their lives but as fate decided it, Aika Kiryuu ended up with something special."
"Special?" Haruto repeated her words blankly.
"Aeternam Somnium, the last Sacred Gear. It didn't have any amazing ability and it was considered a defective one for the longest time with its strange quirk of dragging its host to the supernatural world no matter how unlikely that it was. At this point, it's almost as if the hosts were being tested as most of their first encounters were dangerous, ending with nearly all of them leaving the world a lot earlier than expected."
Honoka shuddered at her few words, "Leaving the world?"
Cleria closed her eyes and continued, "Most of Aeternam Somnium's hosts couldn't go through their puberty as death met them in an untimely manner. And even if the rest managed to survive, they would somehow get involved in more dangerous scenarios. Ever since the concerned parties started recording the Sacred Gear activities, the oldest host of Aeternam Somnium was only 27 years old and it didn't fail to awaken in every generation."
The couple couldn't understand all of what Cleria just said because they lacked the necessary context and they couldn't comprehend the supernatural world in the first place. However, it was very clear to them what the fate of these Aeternam Somnium's holders was. That very same Sacred Gear that had apparently attached itself to Aika.
"2-27...? No way..." Honoka, as if forgetting most of what had been said, became fixated on the word 'death' and became devastated.
Her husband, on the other hand, remained strong and finally understood what was going on, "I see... In my daughter's case, Kisuke Urahara was her first encounter, wasn't he?"
Cleria nodded, "That's right. You could say that she's lucky to have caught his curiosity."
Haruto couldn't deny her words but there was still one last thing he wanted to know, "Then doesn't that mean what we're doing right now is essentially useless if Aika was still going to be dragged back to your world regardless of her will?"
"As I've mentioned earlier, 'we thought it was defective for the longest time'. Thanks to Kisuke, we were able to figure out that Aeternam Somnium's fate was to go after two certain Dragons. Now that Aika was able to fulfill that and receive their blessings, the Sacred Gear's purpose was already fulfilled. Kisuke knew this so he went on with this plan. Nothing is stopping Aika from retaining a normal life and it can't be denied that Kisuke saved her even though it didn't start out of care."
Cleria, Sakura, and Diehauser thought that the call would last for a little more but they were surprised when Haruto abruptly thanked them for their time and ended the call.
"Will they be alright?" asked Cleria.
Sakura sighed as she answered, "Who knows... But I'm sure they'll be able to reach a conclusion."
.
.
.
Honoka and Haruto both stayed silent after hanging up the phone. Thankfully, the former was already able to calm herself down and think about the situation objectively like her husband, "...That only opened a can of worms... I don't have any idea of what we should do from here on."
Contrary to her, however, a small smile emerged from Haruto, "I'm the opposite though. I know what I must do. It's just that you're definitely not going to agree to it."
Honoka's eyes widened as she turned to him and instantly had an idea of what he wanted to do. She became silent for a minute once again before clenching her fist and biting her lips and said, "...Then I don't want to hear it... However... You are also her father so if you decide on something, you have every right to go ahead with it... In any case, it's a lot better than a mother who doesn't have any resolve to do anything."
Haruto's arm wrapped around Honoka and softly whispered, "What do you mean you don't have any resolutions? You have enough resolve to watch where our daughter is going and that means you're carrying the burden along with me."
Haruto arrived in front of Aika's room with Honoka behind him. After a few more seconds of contemplating and solidifying his decision, he knocked on the door, "Aika, I know you can hear me. Let's talk. This time, we're going to tell you the truth... At least a part of it."