"Whew" Ryu was exhausted after harvesting plentiful strawberries.
One week had passed since the incident, and since then, Hina had become cold and more protective.
It isn't that she was now an unsocial person, she would still smile a lot and speak openly with people, but there was something that changed.
Hina and Ryu were both harvesting strawberries, while Kyoto was planting nectarine seeds.
Ryu walked to the bench at the house's veranda, "Hina I need a break,"
"I'll keep working," Hina replied with her usual smile.
As Ryu was sitting on the bench, he observed Hina with a thoughtful expression.
'I don't remember much of what happened back then, and I don't dare ask Hina, but all I remember is..."
[A week ago]
My body was feeling numb, and my senses were weak. I had fallen to the ground after drinking Mr. Woodlock's berry juice. He had surely put drugs inside so that he could have fun with Hina in peace.
I could feel my eyelids getting heavier at a point I could only do slight eyeblinks every second. Plus, I could feel sleepier as time went by.
'Damn it, I'm gonna go unconscious at such a moment...' I thought at that moment.
Right in front of me, I could see Mr. Woodlock and his imposing body grabbing Hina that was defenseless on the couch. As my eyelids were getting heavier, all I could do were slight blinks, not more.
The first time I blinked, I could hear Hina screaming, "Ryu can you hear me!?"
"HAHA, don't worry, he won't hear anything, this way, he won't be a pain in the ass!"
"Good,"
For a split second, I heard silence around me. No more screaming, or laughing, just silence.
When I blinked for the second time, Mr. Woodlock's body was split in two, and his organs were exposed to the ground.
Suddenly, I saw Hina who had this deadly expression on her face, and the aura I once felt the first day I saw her was more intense than ever.
After that, my memories are quite blurry and I don't remember what happened after, I surely went unconscious.
When I woke up once again, I was at home, and everything seemed normal. Hina had never brought up the situation, and Granny and Gramps seemed to think that I just fainted of exhaustion.
However, I know what happened, but I just don't know how to ask her what happened.
****
"Harvesting berries is tiring!" Hina exclaimed sitting next to Ryu.
Ryu had a thoughtful expression on his face making it seem like he wasn't listening to anything that was happening around him.
"What's going on Ryu, still tired of all the harvesting?" Hina joked.
"I'm tired of all the lies Hina," Ryu said without looking at her.
Hina shifted her head slightly sideways and had a nonchalant expression, "What do you mean?"
Ryu suddenly shifted his head to face Hina in a determined look, "I know what happened in Mr. Woodlock's house, so cut the lies,"
Hina looked back at Ryu with a shocked expression and let out a small giggle.
"HUH!? What's making you laugh!?" Ryu replied thinking Hina was mocking.
"I know that you saw everything," Hina said gently, "I never intended to keep it a secret from you, but I just don't want your grandparents to know it..."
Ryu was very confused at that point. Then why did she never tell him where she was from? Why did she never want to discuss about what happened at Mr. Woodlock's house?
"Alright then why would you never answer me when I asked where you were from?"
"Well that's because at that moment, my memory was blurry, but for some reason, under the threat of being harmed and seeing the person I cherish being harmed, my origins came back to me in a flash,"
"Well... do you mind telling me now?
"Well, how can I start this off... I'm a demi god,"
Ryu nearly saw his eyes pop out when he heard what she had said.
"You're a what!?" He shrieked with round eyes.
"Well let's see, I am the last born of Paradai, the father of all spirits. Paradai had a lot of wives, and each gave birth to a multitude of spirits, and lets say, the day the dark spirits invaded the land of the spirits, not all spirits managed to flee, and including those unfortunate spirits, there was the last wife Paradai had left before disappearing with a young little girl which was no other than her daughter.
She was caught and surrounded by dozens of titans, with no way to escape. Knowing that she was living her last minutes, she used all the power she had left to cast a powerful spell. With this, she managed to save her daughter, and infuse the strength and power she once had inside of her.
The only disadvanatges in the spell is that it takes time for the one imprisoned in the spell to be freed, the victim loses all of its previous memories and the person loses half of its divine power.
The good thing is that all of those factors can be slowly retrieved throughout the person's life,"
Ryu was trying to assimilate everything she had said to understand better.
"So we found you lying on the ground because you were freed from the spell?"
"Well I still ignore why I was sent to that location, but its still correct,"
"Alright, and you were only able to use those powers at that exact moment at Mr. Woodlock's house because a fraction of your memories came back?"
Hina nodded.
"Well then, that explains your divine aura... It explains a lot in fact!" Ryu exclaimed.
Everything seemed clearer for Ryu now. Despite there still being some mysteries he understood that herself didn't know exactly about her origins.
"The reason I didn't want to tell you that my memory was blurry in the beginning was because I didn't want you to be suspicious of me,"
"Hina! Ryu! I need some help with planting the seeds!" Kyoto shouted from afar.
"Well then, I guess that means there are no more secrets between us," Ryu smiled.
Ryu then stood up at ran to help Kyoto, "Too old to do things yourself huh!"
"No more secrets..." Hina mumbled, "I wish I could tell him everything,"
"Hey Hina are you coming!?" Ryu shouted waving at her.
"I'm coming!" Hina replied running to him.
At this moment, things seemed to be in order, and life was enjoyable, however, this this is only the beginning of a long lasting and perilous perilous journey that two children will experience.
[6 years later]
***
Fun fact: Hina may be 10 years old in the mortal world, however, in the spirits land she is more than 100 years old