"Welcome home, sweetie." Lilith's mother, Juliet, greeted Lilith. Lilith nodded and replied. She sat down next to Lilith and hugged her. "So, how was the mission?"
Lilith smiled and explained her adventures, leaving out the part where she had to kill people.
"How's everything?" Lilith added, changing the topic. "Did Gray come to visit?"
Juliet shook her head and laughed. "Sadly, he did not. He is an interesting boy. Whenever you're away, he disappears. Haha," she chuckled. Then, she looked at Lilith in concern and changed the subject. "You seem quite tired, so you should get changed. Your clothes are wet and dirty now," she scolded Lilith.
Lilith agreed and went upstairs to get ready. She felt refreshed and rejuvenated. While showering, she began to think about her sect. The mission had been simple, but the results had been great for their reputation. However, she was thinking about taking a few weeks' breaks from the tasks so she could spend some time with Gray.
After a shower, she went straight to her room and texted Gray. However, for some reason, he did not reply. After putting on her white pyjamas, Lilith laid herself on the bed and fell asleep.
Meanwhile, Gray was listening to the music in the kitchen and enjoying his late-night snack. He saw her message in about an hour. He immediately replied: "Yeah! I missed you too! I will be waiting for you tomorrow night!"
The following morning, Gray woke up bright and early. After getting dressed, he ran into his mother downstairs to help prepare breakfast. However, when Kudo showed up, he left the kitchen. His mother gave him questioning looks, but he just ignored her. Kudo tried to bully Gray in the school. However, Gray just ignored him.
Kudo could not start a fight, as he knew his mother would beat him up. He tried to seduce Lilith; however, after his third attempt, Lilith gave him such a beating that he almost ended up in the hospital. So he decided he would do things differently.
"Mom, today is my turn to clean up the house, right?" Kudo innocently asked while helping his mother wash the dishes.
"Yes. " she smiled and replied. "Please take out the trash as well, dear."
Kudo happily skipped his way upstairs while humming. He knocked at Gray's door, and when he realized no one was inside, he went in. He cleaned some stuff up. However, he took all pictures of him and Lilith in their childhood and threw them into the trash. After cleaning everything up, he left the house and went to buy ingredients for his dinner since he hadn't done any cooking in a while.
Kudo knew that Gray was obsessed with Lilith, so throwing out their pictures seemed like a perfect way to tease Gray. When he returned home, he heard loud shouting coming from upstairs and the sound of something crashing into the ground.
"What's going on? Mom?"
When he entered the house, he saw a huge mess. The next thing he saw was a punch seemingly coming out of nowhere. He immediately dodged. However, the next punch hit him. It hurt him badly enough for him to fall to the floor.
A figure slowly emerged, revealing itself to be Gray. He was so enraged at Kudo's prank that he didn't even care if others knew about his powers. He kicked Kudo in the stomach and sent him flying outside the window. Gray watched Kudo fall through the air and land on his feet.
"That'll teach you!" Gray shouted before punching the wall hard, shattering the plaster on the wall.
For the moment, Kudo looked at Gray with disbelief. He knew Gray couldn't cultivate, so where is his strength coming from? What is going on? As Kudo thought that, he got scared again and began running towards the street corner. Before he could reach it, however, Gray's hand stretched and came after him with the biggest rage he'd ever seen. He grabbed Kudo and dragged him back to the house. Kudo tried to free himself from his grip, but Gray was relentless.
"Let go!" Kudo yelled as tears filled his eyes. "I'm going to kill you! Kill you!"
Gray ignored his threats and punched him several more times, but before the last punch, his mother intervened.
"Gray! Let him go. Now!" Shiro Makoto shouted angrily as tears started to form in her eyes.
Gray finally released his grasp but kept his eyes fixed on Kudo, who was on the floor, groaning in pain. He then slowly lifted his gaze, which was completely empty. His eyes were dark red with anger.
"Gray?!" Another voice belonged to Lilith. "Why are you..."
Gray's mother quickly stepped in front of her and blocked her view. "Lilith, go to Gray's room. I need to talk to these two troublemakers."
Kudo was looking at Gray as if Gray was a monster. He wanted to scream, but he couldn't move. He was afraid. Suddenly, Gray's face turned darker and darker until they were hidden in shadow. The darkness engulfed his entire body.
"Go to your room, Kudo," Shiro Makoto demanded, pointing to the stairs. "And you will explain what you did to make Gray angry later."
Kudo tried to stand but couldn't; he was shaking so much. After he managed to stand up, he ran to his room as fast as possible.
The room was a mess. Doors were broken, walls cracked, windows smashed, furniture ripped apart, chairs thrown in every direction, and even a mirror shattered.
On the floor, there lay blood and shards of glass covered in various stains and marks.
"Why did you do this?" Shiro asked, staring blankly at the broken mirror. "So many years, you hid your powers, yet now you lash out?"
"You knew?" Gray asked while staring at the mess he made. He felt guilty, not for beating up his brother, but for the room.
Shiro sighed. "What kind of parent would I be if I didn't notice my child's abilities."
She then paused. "But you didn't want me to know. So, I played along and pretended to know nothing about it." She said sadly.
"Does father know as well?" He questioned.
"No." Her tone was calm and composed.
Gray chuckled as she just insulted her father without even realizing it. However, he quickly stopped after realizing his mother was still glaring at him.
"Now," Shiro continued, "You have a lot to tell me. What made you so angry?"
"That dick threw away all pictures I had." Gray's anger grew by the minute.
Shiro raised an eyebrow. "Pictures?"
Gray rolled his eyes in annoyance.
"Mine and Lilith's pictures."
Her mother stared at him in shock. "Now I know he asked if it was his turn to clean the house..." Her voice trailed off as she remembered her son's behavior. "Oh..."
"It was stupid! " He sighed. "He must think of me as some dumb kid."
Shiro smiled softly and walked towards Gray, wrapping her arms around her son. "You know what, Gray? I will ask him to go to search for them."
He hugged her back. "Thank you... mom."
After a couple of minutes, she pulled back from the hug and looked at Gray. "But you will use your weird powers and clean up the house."
Gray nodded; he stepped away from Shiro and began to spin. In a few moments, the house was good as new. Shiro knew about this power, but it surprised her whenever she saw it.
"Thank you. " Shiro thanked Gray with a smile. "By the way, Lilith is in your room."
Before she finished the sentence, Gray vanished from her sight.
"Wow..." Shiro gasped. "Even with my cultivation, I can't keep up with that boy..."
Lilith sat calmly on Gray's bed, waiting for Gray. The moment she blinked her eyes, he sat alongside her and read from behind her shoulder.
"Hey, Gray," Lilith called with a smile on her face as she leaned against Gray's chest. "What happened?"
"Nothing," Gray replied with a smirk. "Well, except the fact I destroyed the hose... and kicked Kudo's ass."
Lilith shrugged. "Geez. Now everyone knows our secret..."
Gray sighed and put his head on Lilith's shoulder. He remained silent for a minute before responding.
"Yeah, but it turned out mom knew already, and Kudo might be shocked for sure, but mom will make sure he stays quiet."
After a few moments of silence, Gray asked about her mission. "So? How was the mission? I was kinda worried."
Lilith chuckled. "It wasn't too bad, actually."
"Oh yeah, before I forgot..." Gray took out the shining blood-red stone and gave it to Lilith. She looked at it but wasn't surprised because she knew how overpowered Gra's abilities were. Instead, she smiled and thanked Gray. She then placed it in her storage bag before leaning closer to kiss Gray. This action caught him by surprise.
"Huh? What are you doing?"
She blushed from embarrassment, as she did not expect Gray to be this close to her.
"Um, I... I wanted to try something..."
"Try what?"
"Nevermind." Lilith sighed, feeling awkward now. "What do you want us to do today?"