The encounter with Lilith's father precipitated a seismic shift in Lilith's comportment. Like a storm brewing, she seized Akira's arm, compelling him to leave the scene with her. Yet, amidst the turmoil, Akira noted something strikingly poignant: the downturned lips and bowed head of Lilith's father.
His daughter despised him, yet Akira failed to detect any inkling of resentment from the man. The contrasts were stark and puzzling.
Breaking free from Lilith's grasp, Akira demanded clarity.
"Why do you care? He's heartless!"
Akira's gaze held a hint of uncertainty. He had perceived Lilith's father as one who harbored love for his daughter, a sentiment she evidently did not reciprocate. He was intrigued by her unspoken narrative.
"Whatevs! Go be with that jerk then! Just never speak to me again!" With fury etched on her face, Lilith stormed off, leaving Akira grappling with her abrupt departure.
Against his better judgment, Akira found himself drawn back to Lilith's father. He landed before the man, his eyes meeting the elder's gaze.
"You must be the young man whom my daughter is seeing... Please, I need to speak with her... Convey my desire for a family discussion..."
"I don't no mean to pry with your personal problems... Plus, I got nothing to say to her after she puts an angry face at me. What's between you two?" Akira shot back. The man seemed hesitant, his gaze dropping.
"Let's discuss this elsewhere..."
Following the man into a secluded alleyway, Akira grappled with the tumultuous emotions swirling within Lilith. It was akin to a new depth of his Keen Instincts that he was struggling to comprehend.
"Never have I shared this with anyone save for my daughter, but you seem to play a significant role in her life now. Okay here goes... her self changed drastically after her mother's passing..."
Akira's eyes widened, a swell of empathy coursing through him.
[Back when Lilith was 9]
Lilith was a different soul entirely, gentle, compassionate, and far less confrontational. She was a beacon of joy, deeply bonded with her parents, until their discord began to unravel the fabric of their family life.
"I've said it over and over! Our child deserves a bright future! Do you want our progeny to end up destitute!" The thunderous roar of Lilith's father echoed ominously.
"She's a child, not a mechanized puppet! You can't force her down a path you deem fit-"
In a fit of rage, Lilith's father struck his wife.
"She. Is. Our. Future! Who will support us in our old age!? She needs to be prepared! If only fate had granted us a son!"
Meanwhile, Lilith was huddled in her room, her small frame trembling as she cried silently, her hands pressed tightly against her ears in a futile attempt to block out the harsh words.
"H-how could you...? You're too selfish! You don't care about our daughter, you care about yourself! She's not an object!"
"Don't speak to me with that tone, you stupid bitch!" Her father grabbed a chair...
...and struck his wife with it.
The screams were heard by the staffs with sweat, concerning of the wife's condition.
The following day, a momentous incident occurred. Lilith and her mother were navigating the bustling aisles of the shopping mall when Lilith caught sight of her mother's bruised face and the vacant look in her eyes.
"M-mama..."
Seeing her daughter's worry, her mother quickly replaced her sorrow with a comforting smile.
"What is it, sweetie?"
"I want you and papa to stop fighting... I don't want to see you sad and papa angry..."
A single tear slipped down her mother's cheek.
Her mother's smile, although tinged with sadness, reassured Lilith, "We will, I promise..."
But behind that guise of a smile, her mother knew a painful truth. The inevitable divorce was looming on the horizon, yet she decided to withhold this from her innocent daughter.
An hour into their shopping excursion, a monstrous creature tore through the mall, reducing it to rubble.
Amidst the crumbling chaos and tumbling debris, Lilith's mother shielded her daughter, taking the brunt of the falling rocks.
Grievously wounded and on the verge of death, Lilith's mother continued to smile, determined to protect her daughter till her last breath.
Upon learning of the monster's attack, Lilith's father rushed to the mall. The sight that met him was heart-wrenching: his wife, battered and bruised, using her body as a shield for their daughter. He ran to them, but he was too late to save his wife...
In her dying moments, she handed Lilith to her father. "Go..."
As he whisked Lilith away from the chaotic scene, she turned to see her mother, lying on the ground, watching them leave.
"DON'T LEAVE MAMA! WHAT ARE YOU DOING, PAPA!!? SHE'S GOING TO DI-"
With her eyes closed, and a final serene smile on her face, Lilith's mother succumbed, knowing she had successfully saved her daughter.
Her mother fell to the ground, lifeless...
"MAMA!!!"
Lilith began hitting her father's arm, wanting him to release her. Her eyes were brimming with tears; her world was shattering.
The enormous monster - a gigantic bird - responsible for the pandemonium, began to devour her mother's body, satisfying its hunger pangs. Witnessing her mother's gruesome end, Lilith felt a surge of hatred she had never experienced before...
...directed towards her father.
Later, in the hospital for a check-up, Lilith's eyes were devoid of any emotion - like those of a mechanical doll.
"Are you oka-" Lilith's father reached out to her, only for his hand to be slapped away.
"Don't ever speak to me again, Father..." Lilith turned away, pretending to sleep, effectively ignoring her father.
"Mama..." A month after her recovery, Lilith visited her mother's grave, a bouquet of flowers in her hand. She laid the flowers on the tombstone, planted a kiss on it, and left.
Hidden behind a nearby tree, her father watched her. He was consumed by guilt. If only he had been able to save his wife as well, despite their impending divorce.
Even years later, Lilith continued her daily visits to her mother's grave. She also maintained her daily habit of ignoring her father, treating him with nothing but disdain.
This was when her father truly began to despair...
Now that she had turned 18, Lilith was living life on her own terms, free from her once controlling father's lofty ambitions for her future.
This was the story of their fraught relationship, as told by her father.
"..."
Akira fell silent, now understanding why Lilith viewed her father as heartless and flawed.
"So, have you tried to make amends?" Akira asked, his tone serious.
"I tried to... She continues to avoid me. If her mother were here, I would have asked her for advice." Lilith's father clenched his fist. "I wanted a son, not a daughter, which is why I tried to mold her into the son I never had... That's why we have different vie-"
Akira interrupted him with a punch to the face.
"Have you not changed at all? Still harping on about wanting a son? Who gives a crap? She is your daughter, you ungrateful jerk! No wonder she avoids you! Your selfishness is pathetic!"
"A son or a daughter, you can't expect them to be the same! Who do you think you are? A god?" Akira glared at the pitiful man, his fists clenched.
"I'm done listening to your "expectations" about a son this son that... You're not right in the head."
Rubbing his bruised cheek, Lilith's father finally admitted, "You're right..."
"I've heard enough, you coming or what? I'm going to Lilith, she's not far. I think she's visiting her mom, I smell a graveyard." Akira sensed her presence.
"Wait, please. I don't think I'm ready. What if she..."
"Look, the only thing that matters is your presence. Either you care for her or you don't it's up to you."
"I'm coming." Lilith's father finally agreed.
Akira then held Lilith's father on his back and jumped straight to where Lilith was. In there, Lilith was met with Akira and the devil she didn't want to speak or listen to.
"Lilith, I..."
"If you came here to say sorry, you're already too late... Don't you see your own wife is already beneath us? You treated her badly and you always hurt her, yet you don't even bother to save her just to save me as your so-called "future"."
This hit Lilith's father to the heart as he was faced with the true fact about himself. He lowered his head down and finally confident enough to raise his voice what was on his mind.
"I just wanted to say... that I never realized it until now how much I loved you both... Sorry won't cut it, but I'd like to express how sincere I am..."
"I was wrong to treat you all that way, maybe it was far too late to say that. But know this, papa will always support you."
"You don't have to forgive me..."
"...I never asked for forgiveness..."
"All I want is you to live your life like a bird out from the cage. No matter if you're a delinquent, a professor, or a model I don't care."
"For this last one I'm very proud to say..."
"...papa will always love you..."
Lilith didn't even face her father as she was more focused on her mother's grave.
"I'm done here, Akira. Thank you for your help. If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have reached this far."
Lilith's father bowed slightly to Akira and left the graveyard with a heavy feel of gratitude, relieved after confessing his sorry to Lilith.
The place was starting to rain and Akira noticed a smell of sorrow between the two. The difference from this sorrow that It was a warming smell Akira didn't recognize.
The rain blocked the noise of her cries as her head was hanging down.
Akira frowned and knew that it was the right moment to leave her be, although initially to plan her birthday surprises, it was best to put it on hold.