Chereads / A Life After Life / Chapter 8 - Apology

Chapter 8 - Apology

Anon could not help losing himself in the moment before eating the piece of paper, and he wondered what wrong must he have ever done or what sins must he have committed in this life that he has to suffer so much in this life.

Things are just the way they're ought to be, not wrong nor right one cannot help change a situation, but one must never succumb to the situation as well, accept the way things are, and get over it is the wisest choice one could make.

"Hey kid, did you all of a sudden forget to read or something? Why are you standing blank over there doing nothing…." Anon broke out of his thoughts after hearing Rayleigh shout at him.

If there was ever a thing that was inevitable in the world, it had to be history. History constantly repeated itself. As Anon ate the piece of paper after reading the spell, Rayleigh and Anon finally merged. In a fight where they both thought they would not make through, it eventually turned things around in their favour against all odds.

They did not stop when they became one; a single blow to each Yokai was enough to kill them. "Ahhhhh what…. I swear I never knew it would be this easy after merging I think we should stay merged forever for your safety don't you think?"

Anon, with a blushful and a worried expression on his face, replied, "I think you're out of your mind, there is no way I'm allowing you to merge with me forever. There's no way we're sharing a view of me going in the bathroom or while I'm changing my clothes, absolutely no way you stupid bodyguard."

"And this is why I didn't want a dumb young boy to lift up my book, I always hoped for a beautiful girl to pick the book up for scenarios such as these. Oh god...… you gave me this boy instead of a beautiful girl, pity my soul."

"Besides, kid, I want you to get stronger precisely for the reason what happened today. I want you to defend yourself when I am not around you or if anything worse happens, and I may no longer be a part of the promise I laid down to you.

In order for you to become stronger, I want you to eat these Yokai. It will help you strengthen not only physically but also your sensation towards Yokai will grow much better, and you'll be aware of your surroundings."

Anon, with a look of disgust on his face, when he heard that he has to eat the Yokai they killed for him to gain more strength, Anon replies, "Sigh….. Is there no other way to grow stronger for me? Like some sort of training or something or only eating this will help me…... This is so disgusting."

"Well, this is the fastest way to become stronger. Sure, there comes training and all that stuff but that is combat strength this will provide you the physical strength needed to at least survive these situations on your own." Rayleigh replies to Anon.

Anon tries to analyze the benefits that would help him, in this case, to get stronger and handle a situation without the help of Rayleigh; he decides on what was told by Rayleigh.

"If there is no other way to get stronger immediately, I might as well eat it and get stronger, it surely will not be easier from now on as it has been only the first day and I've already run into so much of trouble."

Rayleigh replies, "A wise decision indeed, however why are you bleeding so much? What happened to you? No wonder you fainted, try to eat the Yokai. It is also your medicine from now on, eat it and you'll see the effects of it."

Anon looks down on his wounds and replies, "I was being chased by a Yokai who fled away from your fight, as soon as I was in possession of the book, he attacked me from behind and put me into a submission hold. He said he couldn't resist and wanted to eat me alive, then he took a bite of my arm and in so much pain I managed to outpower him for that moment and escaped."

Anon kept staring at the Yokai, which he killed, and he was thinking about what Rayleigh had told him about eating the Yokai, which was making Anon a little tempted as each second passed, and his pain was unbearable. He approached it and took a bite of the Yokai's body, and Anon was shocked at what he was feeling.

"What... the sensation to the pain in my arm is disappearing and what the hell... my wounds… they are recovering?? What in the world is this? This is what you meant by medicine?"

Rayleigh bursts out with laughter. "Ha-ha-ha kid, yes this is the a new hack for your life now. The more you consume the better, although I didn't expect it to rapidly have an effect on you. I think this is the best way for you to get stronger if you don't want me to be merged with you forever."

Anon ate how much ever he could and then sat down for a while as his wounds were recovering. "We must leave right now before my parents wake up, we need to sneak into my house or there will be chaos. I've never been out of my house this late and hopefully it is the last time."

At long last, the longest day of Anon's life was finally coming to an end…. The last time he thought this, it only got worse for the day, so he wasn't expecting it to end at all. A day of so many unfortunate events, what looked like an end to Rayleigh's promise, or what looked like the final moments of Anon's existence coming to an end, safe to say that neither Rayleigh nor Anon lacked any courage and faced every adversity with courage.

Anon sneaked into his house through the backside door, which he had left unlocked when he first went out with the Yokai, who persuaded him to take him back to where he belonged.

He heads back upstairs, unnoticed by his parents. "Ray, come out of my body now. I want to go to the bathroom and I can barely hold in any longer. Thank you for saving me today, we'll keep the merging for another time now."

Rayleigh agrees to separate for now as Anon heads to the bathroom. As soon as Rayleigh leaves Anon's body, he notices a change in himself. He's no longer able to stand and began to feel the blackouts again.

Rayleigh falls to the ground and collapses as he begins to feel the weakness from the fight he has had. As he was merged with Anon, it took a lot of energy from him, and he didn't get a chance to eat the Yokai and recover himself.

Upon returning from the restroom, Anon notices uneasiness on the face of Rayleigh, "Ray, are you okay? Do you need something...?"

Rayleigh doesn't reply to Anon and stares at him for a couple of minutes which panics Anon a little bit, "Ray, please tell me what is happening to you? Is there any way I can help you?"

Rayleigh reaches his hand out to grab Anon's hand and then stares at his hand for some time, "Ray, you're starting to freak me out if you don't reply to anything... I'm getting scared…."

Rayleigh bites Anon's hand, and Anon screams in pain yet again, "AHHHH…. What the heck is wrong with you? Was this your intention, to eat me for yourself? I knew I shouldn't have trusted anyone, everyone in this world just end up betraying you one way or another...."

Rayleigh doesn't reply even after what Anon said and bites Anon yet again, Anon couldn't resist this time out, and he blew few punches at Rayleigh. "If this is how you want it, this is how you'll have it. I thought I had finally found a friend in you but I guess I was wrong like every time...."

Rayleigh bursts out in laughter yet again, "Ha-Ha-Ha, you fool. Will stop overthinking? I ate you because you're nutritious for me and I am nutritious for you. If I eat you all my wounds heal and I get to become stronger and since you are already recovering, I thought why not. If I handed it out as a request you probably would never let me eat."

Unexpectedly tears roll down from Anon's eyes, Rayleigh had been watching him for a few months now, but he had never witnessed tears in Anon's eyes at all. No matter how tough things got, there were no tears at all…. Which made Rayleigh wonder, he was the worst mistake in Anon's life, and he has turned his whole life upside down.

"I'm sorry, Anon. It is truly all my fault."