A half an hour later, they all sat down at the table, with Takami, and explained everything to him. As he quietly, his jaw slowly moved downwards.
As much as he wanted to believe, he couldn't make any sense of anything.
He set his head on the table and thought peacefully. Aihara patted him on back to calm him down.
"Think carefully. I know you can. Ask any questions and we'll answer to the best of our abilities."
She said with a soft expression.
Takami lifted his head and gave a light 'thanks,' then faced everyone else.
"First, could you please explain the whole Stre-Stri-"
"Streia."
Gedo cut him.
"Thank you. Could you please explain the whole Streia thing again?"
Takami finished.
"Yes, we'll be happy to."
Aria said, warmly.
"Streia are beings who cannot be comprehended by logic. In simple terms, they are superhumans. They possess powers and abilities, unlike any normal human. We are a part of the race of Streia."
She explained.
Takami looked slightly conflicted.
"I'm sorry for doubting you all, but, could you please show me proof that you're Streia."
"Of course. Ai-chan."
Aria called upon Aihara; all eyes were on her. She raised her hand. As she tensed it, her nail elongated, sharpened and grew black. It was certainly a feat a normal human couldn't do.
"Woah..."
Both Shoya and Takami admired Aihara's vampiric hand.
"My Sin-. My ability is Body Enhancement. I can adapt my body in any way and strengthen it. For example, I adapted my nails with the idea of a vampire in my head."
"Body Enhancement. Ah!"
Takami shouted out loud as if he realised.
"So then, when we arm wrestled, the reason you won and why your hand was full of veins was that..."
Aihara undid her Enhancement. She scratched her head and stuck out her tongue, innocently.
"I used my ability. But only a little."
Everyone laughed while Takami blushed.
"Okay,"
The laughter died down.
"I'd like to know about my brother, Gilheld."
Takami said.
"Well, let's see..."
Gedo started.
"He was an old friend and a colleague of mine in the SSB."
"SSB?"
"Streia Society Bureau."
(They have a whole organisation dedicated to the Streia.)
The boy thought.
"We were good friends until 14 years ago."
"14 years ago..."
He muttered to himself. Takami recalled what Gedo said about Aihara.
"When you had Aihara."
"Yup. He was in love with Aria but always was too scared to make a move. As a friend, I didn't want to disregard his feelings but..."
Aria and Gedo hugged and smiled smoothly.
"Love is meant to be fulfilled."
They said, simultaneously.
"Then..."
"He became jealous and suddenly started attacking us when we were alone. Last time, I fought him directly. We were stopped but if we weren't, then one of us wouldn't be alive today..."
Takami grit his teeth and he slammed his fist against the table.
"That brother of mine... Just because he couldn't..."
He then remembered Gilheld's words.
"What does he want with Shoya and Yumeko?"
A cold silence poisoned the atmosphere. Aria was hesitant on talking, but she did so anyway.
"He's with another organisation called Valhalla. They believe that they can purify the world of Streia despite them being Streia themselves. Apparently, they need to raise the young into warriors. So, as a means of revenge, he wants to take either of them."
Gedo stood up and tucked in his chair.
"For now, I'm afraid that's all we'll tell you."
He concluded.
Aihara screamed 'Dad,' as a means to stop him.
"It's fine, I understand. I should probably get going myself."
The boy got out of his chair and picked up his bag. He wandered over to the door.
"Umm, Taka-nii."
Yumeko walked over and pulled on Takami's trousers. He glowed red in response to being called 'Taka-nii.'
"I don't think you should go back."
"Eh?"
"Surprisingly enough, she's right."
Aihara uniformly announced.
"You suddenly learned your brother's true life and you're the boyfriend of a daughter of a family that he wants to break up. You could be used as a hostage or scapegoat. I'm not only saying this for our sake, but for yours too. He could kill you without a second thought."
Listening to all this, Takami considered his options.
He could go home and act like nothing ever happened. He knew his brother and he would never hurt his younger brother. But Takami found out a side to his brother that he had never seen. Should he trust his common sense or the family that seems to know him the best?
Takami made his choice.
"Alright then. I'll stay. Hopefully, we can get this whole thing done and over with."
He placed his bag down and walked back to the table.
...
"W-what?!"
I suddenly came to, almost like I snapped out of a trance. Memories, memories that I hadn't seen before. Memories, that didn't seem to be mine, played in my head.
It was memories of when Yumeko was around, but... Judgement Day, or so Gilheld called it, still hasn't happened.
I turned my head and spoke.
"Oi, you still haven't shown me what happened that day."
I said.
She smiled wryly.
"I know. I just wanted to stop you there because the next 3 days are irrelevant. You'd just be seeing boring things. So, I decided to skip to June 6th."
"You know, don't you?"
I asked.
Yumeko frowned.
"Know what?"
"June 6th. It's also the date of my birthday."
The girl put her hand to her chin. Her face lit up.
"Now that you mention it, it is."
Yumeko laid her palm out and lightly touched my forehead.
"Now then, let us skip to June 6th. Judgement Day and your birthday. Though, it won't seem like they'll be celebrating your 4th birthday. Because remember, you lose both your sister and your mother on this day."
The way she talked was almost like she was warning me.
A new door unlocked and a new room was visible.
The room of June 6th, 2007.