Chapter 71 - Reunion
Nine days later.
Yes, it took nine days before Caelus and Hiroto finally reached their first goal: Asahi Fukunaga.
Surprisingly enough, Caelus and Hiroto somehow formed a bond.
Although Caelus still hadn't revealed himself to Hiroto as Sho Chad, he was growing fond of the man. Hiroto still has his trashy attitude. Most of the time, he had a slip of the tongue. He randomly cursed and blamed everything around him instead of blaming himself. But even though he was like that, he was showing the will to change for the better.
It was amazing to see how someone tries his best to be a better person.
And knowing how hard it is to change, Caelus felt more amazed with Hiroto as time passed by.
Of course, with those nine days, Hiroto still could not use random things as currency. It was precisely because of his mindset viewing them as trash that was stopping him.
"Ah, shit! Finally! Fucking God, I thought we would encounter another freaking monster and would wound me once more!" Hiroto complained with a heavy voice, his eyes focused on the distant camp inside the vast forest. "Ugh… I'm dying to take a bath. We haven't encountered any river or clean water. It's good that you have an item that can purify the water to drink, but I really want to take a fucking bath already! When was the last time I took a bath? I smell like shit."
Caelus silently shook his head. He got used to Hiroto cursing every time. Hiroto also grew comfortable with Caelus over time. At first, he always gave excuses for cursing…
"Ahh! Sorry. Old habits die hard. Still trying to not curse. Don't kill me!" He hurriedly said. There was determination hiding behind his cheerful joking voice.
"Maybe we should use a penalty system to get rid of the bad habit?" he muttered.
"Hey, hey! I don't think I can afford anymore penalty!"
He glanced at the poor guy carrying his items before looking at the front again. He was afraid of bursting into laughter. Because Hiroto asked Caelus to guide him, it didn't come easy for the both of them. Unlike Caelus who easily grasped the nature of his Glitch, Hiroto had a hard time utilizing his.
At the end, they discussed that a penalty should be added to motivate Hiroto. In the end, since eight days ago, the poor guy had been carrying his items as punishment. They were either loot they picked from a ruined shop which was not ravaged or his stock pile he took from his inventory.
"You have the strength to curse. So, you should still have energy for another one. Let me just think about what good penalty could motivate you."
"Hey! You must be joking..? Y-yes! You're joking, right?!"
He didn't say anything and just walked towards the camp.
"Stop! Please, hold on a minute."
Not far from the camp's entrance, six people were on guard. Immediately, after seeing the two of them, three moved forward to meet them while the rest stayed at the entrance clearly alert.
"I'm sorry if we come up rude. We need to be careful with the messy world now. We need to inspect you. If you don't want to be inspected, then you're free to leave. We're very sorry but we're really strict here."
"What?! Don't you know what we've been through?! Aren't you human?! Why would you do this shit? Shouldn't you at least be helpful?!"
"We understand your sentiment. But as we said, the world is messed up now. We wanted to help as much as we could, but we experienced a lot of selfish people who started to try to harm our group. We came to a consensus that it's better to tighten our security. If we won't, then it will bite us."
"Don't you know how fucking scary it is out–"
"Enough, Hiroto. What they're doing is very reasonable. You can't expect them to let us through just because we want to be taken care of. I'm just honestly curious. You would let us off if we want to leave? Aren't you afraid that we would leak this location?"
"Haha. Seems both of you have been through a lot. You, you're a lot smarter than this dude."
"Fuck you."
"Anyway, we have security for that. This place is really tricky." one of the guards smiled mysteriously.
Caelus nodded. It was probably one of the skills they have. "Hiroto, it's better for you to get inside. As for me, I won't be able to stay. But could you get a person for me?"
The guards became alert. "Who?"
Caelus didn't answer and faced Hiroto instead.
"Go ahead. Try your best to fit in here."
"What? Brother… are we separating for good? D-don't you know these people?"
"I don't, but seeing how they operate, they have a good system that protects their people,"
After Caelus said that, the frowning guard slowly showed approval.
"If our paths are meant to meet again, then it will. Now go, before I decide otherwise." He whispered coldly, making Hiroto shiver with fear.
He got his things from Hiroto and pushed the guy to the other three guards.
When he was sure Hiroto was out of earshot, he uttered, "Asahi Fukunaga. You don't need to be too alert. I might be bringing good news to your group. Ah, don't forget to say to Asahi that, 'I tried. But I failed. I couldn't save as much as I could. I'm sorry.' I'm sure he would know who I am."
He didn't wait for them to ask for more questions, Caelus felt emotional for failing Asahi so he distanced himself and stopped 20 meters away from the camp's entrance.
He didn't wait for too long before he saw Asahi running outside.
When their eyes met, he immediately felt tearful.
*You're safe. Sho, your best friend is safe…*
He didn't know if it was because of Sho's true feelings, but he really felt relieved to know that Asahi was alive and safe. Caelus was even running towards the guy.
In a world where he doesn't have anything that was holding him back, he felt that Asahi was one of his current anchors. It was precisely because of Sho that he felt responsible to do his best for Asahi. He didn't know how he would proceed if Asahi wasn't well.
Just thinking about it made his chest ache. Maybe it was guilt for Sho, or maybe it was because of something else.
*Ahh… I'm so damned happy. Is this emotion mine?*
He couldn't answer.
But it didn't matter.
He just savored the feelings.
He was glad to be feeling something instead of the emptiness he experienced in his dreams.
He smiled amidst the blurry figure running in front of him. It felt like everything slowed down, and the only button that turned everything to normal was when he felt Asahi's warm hug against him. Realizing the reality of everything that happened for the past two months, Caelus couldn't help but cry.
Maybe he was affected by Sho's 18 years of memories. Maybe his main soul was also suffering. But when he felt Asahi's warm hug, he just burst into tears. It felt like his family hugged him for comfort. It was what Sho felt for Asahi. His one last family remaining on the planet.
Time passed by. Only Caelus' sniff could be heard around them.