"..." Eriu stood in front of his damaged house, rocks scattered everywhere around the broken door. Before Eros could say anything, a shout of cursing was heard.
"Fuck! Do you think all this stuff was bought with leaves? Hell no!"
The sentence stopped right as the window shattered. Eriu and Eros stood still, not daring to go inside. The cracked door slowly opened, revealing a mother's sweet smile. "Haha, are you guys home yet? Are you hungry? What would you like to eat?"
Eriu and Eros looked at each other. "No, I'm not hungry! Aren't you, Eros?"
"Hm! I still have some leftovers, though."
Prak!
"You can decide later. Go in first—it's cold outside." Ariadne clapped her hands, making Eros stop in the middle of his sentence. Eriu immediately went inside, followed by Eros.
"Sit down here. Mom will prepare the food!" Ariadne pushed them both into the kitchen, and neither could resist.
The sound of the fire, the water flowing from the bathroom, the fragrance of the food, and the soft hum of the woman cooking in the kitchen all filled the air. He was the only one not doing anything.
"Mom..." Eriu, who was just sitting on the chair not knowing what to do, chose to follow his heart. Ask.
"Yes?"
"Who did this?"
Ariadne paused for a moment before continuing her cooking, "Heh, those fanatics. The ones who like to make offerings in front of our house."
Eriu knew these people.
One day, someone would put flowers in front of the house and various other gifts. Louise once caught them and chased them away, but that only worked for a few months before the same thing happened again.
The village chief did nothing, saying that these were probably just ordinary gifts.
But after Eros told them to stop, they did.
"They accused us of controlling Eros. Luckily, before anything happened, Aunt Emma came to help." A warm smile appeared on Ariadne's face.
"Aunt Emma? You mean... her?"
"Yes."
"..." This supposedly fierce person was helping them—the aunt who scolded the children playing in front of her house... She had gotten angry with them before when they accidentally entered her yard while playing hide-and-seek with Eros.
It was really scary, I swear.
"Oh, haha, Aunt Emma has something to say?"
"Hm? What something?" Ariadne subconsciously turned to Eriu, looking at him suspiciously.
"Aunt Emma gave us a hand, and it's possible she's got something in mind...?"
Ariadne narrowed her eyes. "Err, she just said she'd be here again." Instant goosebumps were experienced by Eriu upon hearing that. Although Eriu looked like a carefree child, the suspicious look in a mother's eyes was still visible. "Eri, you're hiding something, huh?"
"Nothing. Eros probably finished bathing!" Without waiting any longer, Eriu walked quickly to the stairs and ran straight to the room. Ariadne looked at where Eriu had been sitting, then went back to cooking.
"That child definitely won't come out of his room knowing that guests are coming."
Just as the door closed, Eriu jumped onto the bed. The sound of running water could still be heard, coupled with the thoughts spinning in his brain.
001.
The system that normally appeared in front of him seemed foreign to him; he had even forgotten the robot's voice. Is it because this is a game world that everyone's memories are disappearing as if erased from existence?
But strangely, every time the diary was opened, he could clearly remember what 001 looked like. He could even remember all 42 endings in the game. These included the ending that was far from romance. It also included the secret ending and the unique ending where the world in the game disappeared suddenly.
Words which appeared on the secret route on day 2:
This is the last day that I guard their last residence.
And this is the end where I can meet them again.
This sentence alone is confusing and suspicious.
It's better not to think about it for now.
This world has been suspicious from the beginning.
This is all just a game of school romance.
Until someone dies.
***
"Hi, Aunt Emma!" Eros immediately recognized who the woman sitting on the living room sofa was, Emma smiled in response to Eros' greeting, "You've grown. How is Eri lately?".
Ariadne sigh, "He is fine, he's just not used to meeting people..."
"Maybe this is the age of young people who don't want to listen to their parents' conversations."
"You're right." Aridane took the glass she had put on the table and drank it.
"You should eat, I made it for you to get your energy back!"
With a happy face, Ariadne pointed to the many large plates that filled the entire table until they were full.
"Eros, you need to eat a lot too, and don't forget to bring this to Eri." Now that his mouth was full of pudding, Eros nodded and took it as an answer. After finishing his pudding and his meal, Eros took a large plate containing 4 healthy 5 perfect.
"Then i'll go first" Ariadne, seeing the plate brought by Eros, understood right away, "Hm, don't forget to bathe."
"Yup!" Eros left the living room.
Their conversation was normal, such as giving advice to other mothers and also giving recipes for food they liked, it all looked like it would end quickly.
"I wish your son here could talk to me..."
"?" Ariadne's gaze was filled with suspicion.
"... I just want to thank him." Emma narrowed her eyes and looked at her hands. "I met him when he was about three years old."
"...?" All she knew was that the boy had locked himself in his room and wasn't coming out. His behavior worried her, so she chose to meet with that person to see if he had any nymph growths.
The reason for looking there was because the Nymph's growth was probably the most brutal compared to other races. They will continue to hallucinate seeing someone they know, but no one will see that, they will also think they have lived as someone else.
That is why many nymphs have died from their own growth, and that is why nymphs have the most brutal power compared to others.
It's like the phrase 'backfire', Nymphs have to die with their power, but if they manage to get past it, they become very terrible.
They gave advice to find a friend who would be with the child during its growing years.
With that in mind, we thought of adopting Eros, who we thought could be his friend. But it turned out that Eros liked his son and it was a bit sad to have to destroy a young love story.
Emma said it deliberately, as if to add to Ariadne's confusion, "After that day, I couldn't see him again, especially since some problems last year made it even harder for me to see him." the sound of breathing could be heard exhaling the dew in the air. The month of late January, where the snow slowly faded and disappeared, leaving only erased memories.
"When I met my husband that day, I had already planned to die."
"I thought about dying that day, letting my abusive husband end my life along with my child." Ariadne was shocked to hear this, "!"
Seeing the worry on Ariadne's face, Emma smiled a small smile as she chuckled, "But because of your son, Andras and I are still alive."
"I think your son is possessed by a 50,000-year-old spirit."
"Advising me with phrases I never even thought of."
Her voice followed the memories of the past, the flat tone and the lively tone mixed together, "If you wanted to die, you wouldn't have screamed so loudly."
"Even fools who never went to school can tell,"
"that you still want to live."
"Hahaha, the moment I heard his words, I was hit on the head. Even though I ended up starting my life all over again, for me it was the most refreshing of all my lives".
I feel like I'm back in the days when I was busy thinking about the next test to become a famous witch.
Sob...
Ariadne cried immediately, every time she thought of Eriu who seemed to hate her, even her own son always stayed away from them (Ariadne and Louise).
Seeing that he only wanted to talk to the glass that reflected his reflection made me feel like a useless mother.
"...?" Ariadne took Emma's hand and hugged her.
"My son really loves us, hiks, I thought he hated us for being incompetent parents..."
"..."
"Right, he must love you all very much."
"Today I will hug him and spoil him! I'll buy him the stone he likes, even a ruby! I'll also give him my heirloom weapon!"
"Ah..." Emma blinked a few times before she laughed, "Haha, Eriu is so lucky to have you."
Ariadne smiled before slapping her cheeks as she wiped away her tears, "I'll call Eri to see you! He'll be happy to know how you are after all this time!" Emma tried to reach Ariadne as if to stop her, but Ariadne was faster than she thought and had already run upstairs and knocked on Eriu and Eros' room.
As usual, it wasn't Eriu who opened the door, but Eros.
"... Mama, are you crying?" Eriu, hearing this, immediately got up from his bed and looked at Eros and Ariadne who were standing at the door, "Uh, are you okay, mom?"
"Is your greatsword broken?"
Ariadne always cries when her favorite items or swords are covered in dirt. Don't tell me something's really broken!
Ariadne looked out of the door, her eyes filled with water again when she saw him, "Eriii..."
"???" Eriu approached her mother who was suddenly crying, Eros took Ariadne's hand and tried to calm her.
Ariadne hugged them both and cried, "Huaa, you know, I really love you guys... Hiks..."
"Hiks, huu, I love mom and Eri too..."
"Wha- Why are you crying too!?"
Since he was the only one who wasn't crying, he didn't know what to do. Ariadne on the other hand, seeing Eriu's worried face, cried even more.
"Hiks, huaaa!"
"Sobb..."
"...."
Surely Ariadne remembered why she was here, she immediately raised her head to look at Eriu, making Eriu both surprised and confused.
"Is there something you want to tell me?" Eriu questioned with some hesitation.
"Come down and talk to Aunt Emma one last time..."
"?"
"She wants to thank you, I think you should listen to her directly."
"A... Alright." Eriu agreed.
Ariadne released the hug and smiled, "Listen to the story carefully, got it."
"...Um..." Eriu was certainly still uncomfortable with Ariadne's usual treatment. Before he went downstairs, he turned to see Eros with his wet eyes as he hugged Ariadne.
Eros said nothing and looked at Eriu as he walked down the stairs.
It was as if memory after memory was trying to break through the lost ones.
Emma waved her hand at Eriu, who was just stunned and standing next to her, "Do you want to go out for a while?"
"... Sure."
Emma immediately took off her coat and used it on Eriu. Eriu felt a little awkward but let it go, with the door of the house open, the two of them walked while Emma held Eriu's hand like a child and a mother walking in the park just for fun.
"You don't remember me, do you?"
"Ah... Haha..." Eriu laughed awkwardly when he heard that. Nah, honestly, I remember you.
"When you met me, you were in the forest..."
"!!!" What? When!?
"Don't worry, I didn't tell your mother that you like to sneak into the forest."
"Thanks..."
Emma laughed at Eriu's awkward tone, which made it increasingly clear that he was confused as to why he was there.
"Thank you for saving me and my child that night. Your words that day were not wrong."
"It reminds me of the quote from my ancestors."
Cats are like that, they become familiar once you get to know them.
"That night I screamed so loud and you came."
"Ahh..." Turns out it was you...
"Haha, so you remember?"
"Um, yeah, I remember that."
If it weren't for their very different heights, one would think that the two of them were adults talking to each other.
"Is everything okay?"
"Everything's fine. I've started growing tea and selling it. These days I also want to sell magic books."
Emma reached into her bag and took out a very large and thick book, "Madam Quella once said you liked old stories, so I will give you this." Eriu lifted the book with both hands, "This is a book that contains magic from the tower and also ancient stories about incarnations and conspiracies about the appearance of Deus in this world."
"I wrote it from my previous search results."
"This is a token of my gratitude to you."
The two of them walked all the way to a fence full of pots and plants.
Emma patted Eriu's head before turning away, "Until we meet again, little hero." In front of the fence, Eriu stood and watched Emma leave. Slowly, a small smile appeared on Eriu's face, his eyes curved like those of a smiling cat.
His eyes looked up to the sky, which still showed a purple light, but with small twinkles slipping between the dominating light.
I don't want to regret it and repeat my mistake a second time. Even though my memories are slowly fading away, it doesn't matter as long as I don't regret all my actions.
"Why are you outside?" Louise seemed to meet Emma on the street and after that he seemed to run to get there faster.
There was no stick in his hand as usual.
And...
Running with closed eyes is a bit suspicious.
"Come in, it's still cold outside." Louise tapped Eriu on the shoulder and opened the door of the house, which shone in a warm yellow color. In front of Eros, who was waiting, Eros immediately hugged Eriu, taking off the coat Eriu was wearing.
"Uh...?"
"Let's go to bed, it's getting late." With a smooth movement, Eros pushed Eriu while hanging the coat on the hook of the coat rack.
"Ehh. Wait, I haven't seen the food in the kitchen yet..." Of course, he wanted to see other food
"It's all the same as what you ate!"
"Really?"
"Hmm!"
With that, Eriu let himself be pulled up.
Louise looked around for Ariadne, which ended with Eros pointing to the backyard where Ariadne was.
'I have many tickets to Loss Paradise, so I intend to give them away.'
'It is possible that they would refuse this ticket if I gave it to them right away, so I'll leave it up to you.'
'Give them this and tell them to follow the path on the back of the ticket when they get there.'
'Until we meet again in the future, incarnation of Ramiel.'
'I suggest you be careful because Ramiel is said to have committed a grave sin and that's why he's hiding.'
Emma sent a signal to Eros and the two of them met in the kitchen so that Ariadne wouldn't get suspicious.
Eros just nodded in understanding of Emma's words and as soon as Emma and Eriu left, Eros immediately told Ariadne about the ticket and handed her the golden maple-shaped ticket.
'
'
'
In the center of the stage, a woman danced and danced, playing the role of Eve. Her dance was so mesmerizing that everyone just looked at her.
It was as if Eve was her.
If I hadn't listened to the serpent's advice at that time.
I would have lived a life of pleasure and seen the beauty of heaven.