For the next few days Ryu did not go online. Whenever he saw the capsule, regret seeped into his now fragile heart. Miyuki and Mia were told about Agon’s death by Haruna. Whenever Miyuki or Mia brought the topic Ryu hardly responded to them. His eyes seemed lifeless and even when his face had a smile on it, those golden brown globes did not. Things got even worse when Isamu who had till then kept quiet about it, began to ask questions.

On one such occasions he asked Ryu,

“Why are you so upset when this Agon guy is just a computer program? Don’t be a fool and cheer up”

‘Just a computer program’ cause Ryu to snap and for the first time in his life he talked back at his grandfather shocking everyone in the house.

“Don’t you dare talk about Agon like that” was what he had told his grandfather. Ryu then stormed out of the room, banging the door behind him stupefying the Yasahiro household.

---***---

When things began to change from bad to worse, Haruna decided take actions. She was furious when she heard about Ryu’s behavior for the past few days. Miyuki had occasionally called Haruna with a worried tone, not knowing how to help her only son. And so, it was Haruna who came with a plan.

Taking out her smartphone, she dialed Ryu’s number. It took a while before the call was attended and the voice that greeted was as heavy as lead.

“Hello” came the voice of a boy that seemed to have been half dead, causing Haruna to flinch.

“Ah, Ryu! It’s Haruna. Are you free today?”

“Hm? Free? Yes I am. What is it?” it was apparent that he was uninterested.

“I was wondering we could go out, I mean I wanted to go to a shrine nearby and pray for the village.”

“Village?”

“Yeah! Draklake. Seems the village is doing well.”

“Why pray for a village in a game? Is it not stupid?”

“May be so. But for me it as real as it can get. Is it not the same for you? Or are you going to abandon them? Have you forgotten about Hwan and Fernork combining their might?”

“What do you wait Haruna?”

“I want you to stop wailing like a girl” the voice that replied was cold.

“What? How dare you?” Ryu yelled back.

“I did not know that the great Ryu Yasahiro was a weakling who hid behind his mother when he was bullied. Pathetic, truly pathetic.”

“Haruna! Watch your tongue woman.”

“How long do you plan to stay in your room and cry like a baby? Are you not going to apologize to his parents? To the village? Are you going to let the others in the village die just because you are afraid of getting scared? Do you think only you are hurt because of this whole damn situation? Is this how you are going to end things?”

“I can’t. There is no way that I can go to the village. How can I face them? I killed Agon” Haruna could feel the despair and dismay in Ryu’s trembling voice. She could feel the boy’s pain.

“It is you that think that way. Do you know what his mother told Miyuki-san when she informed her about her son’s death? ‘A warrior dies happily for the sake of his lord and village. I do not hate the chief, I hold him dear for letting my son have a great life and a wonderful end.’ This is what she told. And look at you? Shutting yourself home while his parents have accepted the fact and trying to move on. You are their hope Ryu, go back to them. Talk to them. Get stronger and protect them. That is your duty towards them as their chief. You do not have the privilege to mourn and relax as long as you are their leader.”

“But he died because of me”

“No, he died because of us. I too bear responsibility and so I decided to get stronger so that I could protect everything that he wanted to protect. That is what he would want you to do, for him you were hope, please do not let his death go vain. Protect the village he loves, that is the way to honor his memories. Is it not?”

“Yeah. Which shrine?”

“Eh?”

“You said you wanted to go to some shrine, right? Which shrine?”

“Ah, just come over to my house. We can go from here. There is a shrine close to my house. And wear something nice, not your typical black suit and all.”

“Fine young lady. I will be there in an hour. Bye” Ryu could not help but smile at her last phrase.

“Bye” Haruna smiled and disconnected the phone. She then ran towards her cupboard to select the day’s battle suit.

---***---

“”Be careful, Ryu. Take good care of here. It’s so nice to be young” Miyuki and Mia giggled slightly."

“Its not like that mother.” Ryu for some reason felt embarrassed.

“Like what? I did not say anything.” Miyuki feigned ignorance while Mia kept giggling.

“I am going mother. Bye Mia”

“Have a nice date onii-sama”

Ryu shrugged his shoulders a little at the mention of a date and walked towards the car silently. Miyuki and Mia looked Ryu warmly. The boy had regained some of his energy back and now they prayed things would get better by the time he came back.

“Shall we go have something sweet dear?”

“I want ice-cream” Mia jumped in excitement.

---***---

Ryu stepped out of his care. He was wearing a yellow t-shirt and a blue denim jean and looked really great. Even though he felt nervous, his legs paced forward and his rang the calling bell. The door opened fast and there stood Haruna in a dark blue one piece dress with her hair tied neatly. The sleeveless dress stretched till her knees and suited d her perfectly. The dark color of the dress complemented her beautiful white skin. With a little lip gloss, her red lips shined brightly enhancing her even brighter smile. For a moment Ryu stood there dumbstruck.

“Shall we go? It’s just hardly a five minutes’ walk from here”

Ryu nodded still lost in the girl’s beauty causing Haruna to blush slightly. She held Ryu’s hand dragged him with her. She laughed slightly when she Ryu’s face going all red. The two seemed happy, happy to have met each other. The two talked about various things while they walked slowly towards the shrine. Haruna kept holding the boy’s hand and Ryu did not mind it the slightest.

When they reached the shrine which was not much crowded, they prayed with their eyes closed. The two wished for the village to be a safe and great place for those who were abandoned and those who were weak. They swore to get stronger so that they could prevent another death.

The two then went to nearby restaurant to have lunch. Everywhere they went, they invited the attention of those around them, such were the beauty of the two. Haruna’s smile and Ryu’s elegance at the envy of boys and girls alike. While the two had lunch, the waitress threw secret glances at Ryu at the same time glared at Haruna. Finishing their lunch, Ryu took Haruna out for shopping buy here clothes he thought suited her best. By the time they finished shopping, it was already evening.

“Hey Ryu, come with me. There is on more place that I want to take you to”

“Where to?”

“A special place. At least for me. A place where mother often took me. It’s not some big place, it’s a tree house little away from our house.”

Haruna guided Ryu back to her home and then from there took him through various alley ways till they reached a small open plot. The plot was in the outer region of the residential area and was peaceful. A massive tree occupied the middle of the small land, which was covered in grass. On top of the tree was a small tree house, hardly big enough to let a couple of thirteen year old to fit in. a wooden staircase paved the way to it and Haruna sat on that stair case, her hands running over it gently. Her eyes moistened a bit, and her cheeks reddened. Ryu went close to her and held her hand, his eyes gazing into hers. Haruna gave a smile and wiped her eyes.

“When I first came to this place. I was eight. Mom took me to this place on my birthday. Dad was busy with his work and said he would not make it for my birthday party and I was sad about it. And then she took me here, and let me climb up the stairs. That day I played inside this house for hours. From then we would often come here, she and I would spend hours here, chatting, laughing, playing.

The last time I came here was when I was seventeen. It was a Tuesday evening. Mom and dad had fought about something over the phone and she was crying. So I thought I would take her out to the tree house. I dragged her out even though she said she did not want to. I thought if we talked about things in this place she would cheer up. It was a little late in the night and there were none around. We were talking about various things when a couple of men approached us. They were drunk and were trying to feel our body. One of them tried hug me but he got hit by mom. The two men got angry and one of them took out a small knife from his pocket. He then asked mom to give him all her money. Since our home was a few minutes’ walk from here, we had no money with us. They then caught hold of mom and then asked me to go get the money from home. I was scared. I did not want to leave mom with those two, and I knew if I were to scream they would really kill either of us. And so I agreed to go get the money.

I ran and ran, as fast as I could. I called dad as soon as I reached home and then took all the money I could find and rushed back. Dad had by then alerted the neighbors, but it was too late. By the time was back here, all I saw was my mom on the ground, blood flowing out of her neck. Those two guys tried to rape her when I was gone and when mom resisted they killed her, just like that. The two men were caught after a week or so. From then dad began to come home early. You know, so that I would not feel lonely. But every night when I think about it, I feel like was the one who killed my mother. If I had not taken her to this place that night, she would have lived.” Tears flowed out of Haruna’s eyes as she recalled her past. Her red cheeks were wet with her own tears and her lips trembled as she wept profusely.

Ryu held her hands tight as he silently wept with her, he placed a hand on her head and patted it gently. Haruna leaned forward slightly, placing her head on Ryu’s chest as she cried her pain out. It took a while for Haruna to regain her composure but even after the tears stopped, she did no move away from the boy’s embrace. The two stayed like that for some time. Haruna felt a strange warmth embrace her and she felt her heart calm down rapidly when the strong arms of the boy gently held her. The chest she was leaning on felt soft yet muscular, she could hear his heart beat which was unusually fast since he was holding a girl in his arms.

Haruna smiled, even though she felt embarrassed she felt happy that she could make the boy’s heart race. Wiping her eyes with her slender hands she moved away from Ryu but her gaze bore into Ryu’s eyes. She smiled when the boy turned away his gaze. She then moved closer to him, her face inches away from his. Her rosy trembling lips then touched his face, a kiss to the cheek followed by a warm embrace. Ryu could not fathom what had just happened. His embarrassment, shyness and nervousness caused him to blank out for a while.

“Cute” Haruna could not help but pinch the boy’s cheeks causing him to flinch slightly. She pushed him down and then ran away from him. The boy fell to the ground but was smiling at, her back. Shaking his head sideways he thought, ‘What a woman? I want to protect that smile’

Turning back her little head, she stuck out her tongue at the boy who was on the ground and then began running away once again. Ryu got up from the ground and chased her. He ran slowly so that he could see the girl look back at him with a smile for that smile had enticed him, he was now captive of those bright smiles and shinning eyes. The boy was falling in love.

The girl ran into her own house and locked the door leaving Ryu outside. Ryu tried to knock the door but a sweet voice stopped him from doing so.

“Don’t do everything by own. You have people who like you around you. Stop carrying everything own your own. Let me share half of it, I will be with you forever” the voice then trailed off and Ryu knew that the girl had mustered all her courage to come with those words and he knew those were her true feelings. A smile broke out on his face, leaning his back on to the door, he said.

“Forever”

The two stood on either side of the door with reddened face and happy hearts, their face bore a wide smile as an adult woman and young boy began to connect their hearts with each other.

On the room next to where Haruna was, her father Kiyoshi smiled as he watched his only daughter beam in happiness. Tears rolled down his cheeks as he watched his daughter and in his mind he said.

‘Your daughter is happy, Asuna!’

---***---

Please read my 2nd fic

ARMAGEDDON: THE NEW WORLD

MAIN PAGE