"Geez, I nearly had a nose bleed." Ethan says and sits down.
"Sorry, sorry." Arata apologized.
"Alright, after this, we're heading back." Theo says and we nod. "Dino said he had something to talk to you about."
"Okay." Arata answered.
After having a meal, we thanked Monica and the other Zodiacs before returning home. When we do return home, we are greeted by Dino and new faces we didn't recognize.
"I'm Earl Pearl." A young lad, with hair that is tinted in a hue of blue, silver eyes and white skin smiled as he stood before us.
"You can call me Artz Quartz, I'm a Crown, you lots can count on me when you need help, so don't hold back, got it?" Another man, with pale white hair and deep blue eyes smiled.
"You can call me Laz." A guy with deep blue eyes and azure blue eyes with white skin says.
"They took a while but these guy finally arrived." Ryl stated. "There are a few more but they haven't arrived yet, when they do, they'll be more than happy to help as well."
"Really? That great!" Theo smiled.
While everyone talked, I walked out to get some fresh air and Andrew joins me. He leans against the terrace fence and looks at the sky.
"Arata has really grown up, when we first met, he was pretty cute and seemed like a person who would be fragile, the type that'd break if we held him too tightly." He says.
"Yeah. He grew up before I even noticed. Before he started studying here, he was always chasing me and clinging to me like a vice." I said. "Now it's completely different. He's surpassed me and has become like a cloud in the sky, so close yet so far. Now I'm the c3haisng after him and clinging like a vice."
"I wonder what trigger such a change in him? Besides you know, recalling his memories?" Andrew asked.
"I don't know either." I answered.
"It may have been the people he met here that lead him to become who he is today." Dino says as he joins us. "I'm not one to toot my own horn but I'm pretty good at observing and reading people. And that's why I've come to this conclusion."
"Go on." Alistar says as he joins us witb Alexis and Reinhardt.
"Arata's with Mayumi and the rest." Zhen says and he and Ethan join us with Liam.
"My conclusion is that, it was the many encounters and experiences that made him the person he is now. But there's also more." He says. "Struggles, realizations, all these things have molded Arata into the person he is today. But nothing starts without a trigger."
"Trigger?" I asked.
"What triggered Arata to change? What was the first piece of the puzzle that he was so desperately trying to complete?" He asked and we shook our heads. He smiles and points to us. "It was meeting you, his Swords. By meeting you, all the pieces that his past selves had placed finally began to come together. The trigger for Arata's growth was meeting all of you."
"Meeting us?" Liam asked.
"By meeting you, he grew, this growth lead him to change and that change lead to hiim being who he is now." Dino stated. "The string of fate that connects Arata to you was what was needed to tie the pieecs of the puzzle together. Fate brought you together and it was fate that guided you here."
"Fate... do you really believe in such a thing?" Zhen asked.
"Well, it's up to you to believe. But I've lived my life believing a certain motto." Dino says as he heads for the door. "Everything is connected, fate is what you make of it. Everyone's fate is what they choose it to be. The power is in your hands."
He walks back inside and we are left with a question instead of an answer and I sighed. What's with him? I can't undertsand.
"Maybe it was his way of telling us something?" Alexis asked.
"Fate is what we make of it, huh?" Andrew sighed. "The choices are in our hands?"
I try to think back, to everything that has happened. From that day when I went to the river on a whim, to taking Arata out of worry, to naming him, to caring for him, to making him my brother, to everything that followed after that.
So everything started with a whim? Or did it? That day, when I went to the river, was it really a whim or was it something else entirely. Had I not gone there, I wouldn't have met Arata or anyone here today normally.
I don't think it was a whim at all that brough us together, but it was fate. It was my choice to go to the river that day, it was my choice to take care of Arata, to give that name and to treat him as my brother, and it was also my choice to protect him with my everything, everything up till now was my choice alright. If those choices are what you call fate then I could say that I really did choose this path and I'm sure it was the same for Arata.
"So if it was our choice to follow Arata, was it also our choice fall inlove with him?" Zhen says and we all fall silent.
"You, what do you mean by that?" Reinhardt
"I mean, don't we all love Arata? Something's been bugging me recently." He stated. "I love Arata. I say it easily but what do I really mean when I say those words? Love? What does it mean?"
"Huh? Isn't it caring for someone?" Liam asked.
"Is it?" Zhen asked.
"What do you mean?" Ethan asked.
"I've been thinking about this for a while. Why does it hurt when I see Arata being hurt, when I can't be of use to him, when I can't help him, when... someone else manages to do something I couldn't do for him?" He says and we all pause. "What does it mean to love someone?"
His question leaves us speechless, but it also causes me to wonder, what does it mean, really, to love someone?