Chereads / GATE: The World We Once Knew / Chapter 31 - Had you seen her?

Chapter 31 - Had you seen her?

Past Arashi is a bit surprised when Ray suddenly hugs him back but he I quite happy and relieved to see that he managed to make Ray feel a little bit better

"Thank you Arashi…"

"You're really a nice person…" said Ray while huggin on past Arashi tightly

Past Arashi just nodded his head showing his gratitude over Ray meanwhile present Arashi just observe them from over the corner while wondering over himself what is happening

Never have in his life as a Gatekeeper that he would see a demon getting along with human, all this time he always thought that demons are all bad creatures but the moment he saw his past relationship with a demon somehow changes his perspective a bit about demons

(I never would have thought that there are kind demons in this world…) thought Arashi inside his head

(But then if they can have kindness inside their selves…why do they want to attack the Gate and mislead human then?)

Present Arashi start to wonder over himself toward what kind of thing that had drove demons into a war with the Gatekeeper and from where did the demons actually came from

Just as present Arashi is having a thought about the current problem he is having, out of sudden he felt a strong presence of tremendous aura coming from the top of the cave. He then quickly looks up toward the cave even though there isn't any entrance for the presence to go through

It wasn't just present Arashi who felt the tremendous aura coming but also Ray as he quickly let go of past Arashi and stands up from the ground while looking at the ceiling

He then started to had a familiar sense toward the presence as he somehow looks nervous and sweaty for some reason

"What's wrong Mr. Ray?" Ask past Arashi as he saw that Ray started to look blue in the face

The commotion they were having suddenly wakes Maya from her sleep

While rubbing her eyes, Maya looks over Arashi and Ray who are looking panic for some reason

She then started to wonder if there is something that is about to happen that is making Ray to get scared

Just as she had those thought in her mind, Ray spoken out of sudden making the two of them to look at him

"They're here…" said Ray while still looking panic

He then quickly turned over toward both Maya and past Arashi with a scared look on his face, Ray then put out his hand straight pointing toward the tree as he's about to do something about it

As he does that, the tree suddenly crack opened making it a space to which Ray then shoves both Maya and past Arashi inside

Both Maya and past Arashi were confused over Ray action but then Ray put one of his fingers on his mouth telling them to keep quiet which they replied with a nod

"Stay here and don't make any sound…" said Ray while patting Maya head and look directly toward past Arashi

Seeing how the both of them understood his order, Ray slowly back off and closed the tree back leaving no crack that could let anyone to see what's inside

As soon as he did that, he quickly turned back getting ready to "welcome" the unexpected guest that is coming to visit him after a thousand years

Meanwhile present Arashi also prepared himself with a thorn that he broke the moment he felt the presence coming due to the overwhelmed fear

"Huh?"

"I never thought that you would last leaving in this rotten place for a thousand years at all…" said the voice coming from the sky in the form of a mist just like Ray before

Hearing that voice spoke out sends shiver toward Ray but he stands his ground while waiting for them to unveil themselves

"Don't say that Meredith…"

"We should be happy that he is doing just fine…"

"Even after that unexpected thing happened." Said another voice which sounds familiar toward Ray

The both of them started to laugh over their own comment about Ray which then echoed around the cave making it sounds creepy to which did scares both Maya and past Arashi

"Wh-what is happening?" ask Maya toward past Arashi confused

Past Arashi just shakes his head showing that he didn't knew anything about it

"It's better if we just stay quiet…" say past Arashi while closing his mouth

Maya started to do the same, both of them then tried to peek through a hole inside the tree to see what is actually happening

"Instead of wondering about how I'm still alive…"

"Shouldn't I be the one to asks you guys the question here?"

Said Ray as he looks up toward the dark mist that almost fills up the room blocking any suns to come in

"Why are you guys here?"

"Meredith…" A figure of a young woman appears as Ray stated her name looking dominant and arrogant while looking down on Ray

"Layla…" Another figure of a woman appears this time bowing while pulling her dress up when Ray stated her name, she seems a bit polite than the other girl but her smirk says the others

As soon as Ray introduced the two mysterious woman who just came out of nowhere, the both of them quickly took a glance at each other and then toward the surrounding

"Would there need a reason for an old friend like us come and visit you once in a while?" Said Meredith as she walks around the cave

Layla nodded her head agreeing toward what just Meredith said

"That's right Ray, you should remember that we're the one who convince the supreme leader not to executed you after you committed the unforgiven sin with that vile woman…"

Ray felt a bit offence after he heard Layla said something about the woman he loved. But instead of attacking her, he just grips on his fist trying to control his anger

"I've realized my mistake and I'm trying to make amend of my sins…"

"It would be a nice thing if you don't bring it up…" said Ray giving warning toward Layla

Layla just smirk over Ray interrogation and warning as she knew he couldn't do anything toward her. At least not at his condition right now

While both Ray and Layla are having the conversation over the past, Meredith tried to look around every crook of Ray cave to see if there is something interesting that he's hiding

Just as she tried to look for something hidden from Ray, Meredith suddenly stops and stared over toward the dark corner in confusion as she felt something weird is standing right on it

She started to get closer toward the corner and stared into it but she could never figure out what it is

Meanwhile present Arashi who is being stared right now by Meredith felt a great uncomfortableness inside himself

He stills wonder how can both Ray and Meredith sense his presence there if he is just a spectator inside his head

After observing the corner for too long, Meredith finally gives up and turned back toward both Ray and Layla

Ray as he saw that Meredith had finished her observation toward his cave and is coming toward his direction is making him feel unease

As he is scared that Meredith would senses that he is hiding both past Arashi and Maya inside the tree

To tell the truth, Ray already knew the reason why Meredith and Layla had come to "visit" him. As it because one of past Arashi and Maya is Demon host

He already knew about it the first time he saw the both of them as he could senses the abnormal aura coming from one of them

That's why Ray tried his best to befriend the two of them in order to protect them from being captured by the other demons

He wouldn't like the idea of one of past Arashi or Maya turning into a demon but he didn't thoughts they would catch on so fast

Ray just prayed that they only stayed to ask a few questions and leaves afterwards

"How long are you guys going to stay?"

"I'm a bit busy if you can't see…" said Ray while looking directly at both Meredith and Layla

Seeing how serious Ray look, both Layla and Meredith just stared at each other with a concern look, just then Layla turned back her view toward Ray with a smirk on her face

"Can't you wait a bit?"

"We actually have something to ask you."

Hearing that, Ray starts to feel nervous but he tried to calm himself down as not to make himself look suspicious

"What is it?" Ask Ray

Both Layla and Meredith turned to see each other first then they nodded their head in agreement before asking Ray the question

"Actually, we had been dispatched toward earth to find a little girl which appeared to be the host of a new demon." Said Meredith explaining their situation

Hearing that had Ray in shocked although he had knew about it he still can't hide the surprised feeling he is having

"We just want to ask if you had seen any kid playing around your cave as due to our data, she seems to had come here…" continued Layla

"So…"

"Had you seen her?"