Chapter 231 - Agitated

"I've been wondering whether there's a chance for me to see my brother so I can apologize…"

Ara's heart clenched painfully in her chest. The image of Alistair crying in grief crossed her mind again and wondered if that was real. Knowing the Ritz King, the gentleness he'd always shown her based on her earlier memories when they were children, it should be.

She wanted to see him again. She wanted to apologize and tell him she's alright and was living well with the love of her life. She wanted…

Ara hadn't realized that tears had started flowing from her eyes. Feeling the heat on her cheeks, she bowed her head as she wiped at her eyes furiously, careful not to be seen by her security who glanced at her worriedly from the rearview mirror. It seemed the thought of Alistair was like an open wound to her right now. However, since she had no idea if she could see him again, the wound would fester forever in her heart.

As if sensing her melancholy, Ryuu's soft voice echoed in her ear, comforting, reassuring.

"We will find a way," he promised, and all her worries seemed to be temporarily washed away.

"Thank you," she said with a small smile.

"Go take a rest, my love," Ryuu told her, afterwards. "You have your test tomorrow. Good luck."

Ara then ended the call, albeit unwillingly. If it were just her, she'd have talked to him longer. But she shouldn't be that selfish. With a sigh, she returned her phone in her bag and waited for the car to reach home.

Miles away, in Hakone, Homura Ryuu stared at his phone. His conversation with his wife just ended but her voice still lingered in his ears as he looked at his gadget. He was standing in the middle of their camp next to the portal where he'd be staying for a while.

He had already known Ara was still attached to her past. He knew about it from the moment she had talked in her drunkenness back at his apartment in Gaienmae. Even if she was already Suzuki Ara, the part of her soul as Alinea still had unfinished business in her previous world. Something told him that regardless of how much he'd try to make it up to her, she would never be truly happy until she had settled that past.

"What's wrong?"

The Koutaishidenka looked up to see Gin walking up to him. He had just finished his errand of letting Aello guard the entrance of the portal with Mavara, and checking if his elemental was behaving as she should.

It was actually a wonderful feat with Aello behaving like that. She had been more and more docile and cooperative with the people of the clan. There wasn't even a trace of malice in her.

"Nothing that we can fix for now," Ryuu answered blandly as he placed his phone in his pocket and turned towards the portal where the two giant elementals lounged.

"What do you mean?" Gin looked at him in suspicion as he too turned to where the Koutaishidenka was looking. "Are you talking about Czernobog?"

Ryuu shook his head. "It's Ara."

"The Princess?" Gin was now confused. "Is there a problem with her?"

A heavy sigh escaped Ryuu, his shoulder a bit slump in defeat. "My wife still longed for her other world."

The chestnut-haired man then stopped as he realized what the other meant. "You mean the dominant piece of her soul's the one from the other world?"

Ryuu shook his head. Gin already knew that Ara was a broken soul, and the other part was a demigod. But he didn't know that the dominant soul now was the one who was from the other world – but that idea in itself was wrong, so Ryuu said no.

"There's no dominant one. She is one and the same. She had both memories of this world and her other world. It's just that she had more regrets about that place than here."

Hearing that, Gin looked worried. Ryuu reckoned the other remembered that for the souls to piece back together, they should experience death.

"Did she… was it bad?" Gin asked, and Ryuu reached out to pat the other man on the head like a kid.

Kazehaya was trying to ask whether Ara died a horrible death, but was not able to continue and decided to change the question.  Well, for someone to have many regrets, they should have had either a miserable life or a horrible death. It was how unfinished business with souls was.

"She was assassinated."

"WHAT!"

Kazehaya Gin looked like he was ready to murder someone and Aello quickly turned to him in panic.

SQUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWK!

"Oi!" Ryuu scolded Kazehaya Gin who suddenly snapped out of his rage when he heard his elemental scream.

Even the wind caster was startled upon realizing that Aello had left her place next to the portal and was at arms-length from him now, waiting for his command. Malice oozed from the harpy, her sharp eyes on her master, ready to attack. She looked as she had when she killed everyone in the old Kazehaya House in Hakone and the people with them ran for shelter.

"S-sorry," Gin apologized, and Aello visibly relaxed, although she still didn't leave her master's side.

The harpy was like a fussy mother worried about her baby, and Gin tried his best to relax in order for the harpy to back off. Ryuu thought the other had totally forgotten how Aello could be so agitated whenever he got unnerved.

"Aello, he's safe," Ryuu told the harpy who looked at him and nodded.

With one last look at Gin, the red harpy slowly returned to her former spot next to Mavara beside the portal.

"She listened to you," Gin said in wonder, and Ryuu also realized that indeed, Aello listened to him.

A memory then popped in his mind about something similar.

"I think she remembers me from when we were still in the celestial plane. Stribog used to hang out a lot at my home."

"Oh, my ancestor likes to visit you?"

Ryuu snorted as another memory came to him. "No. He likes to hide from his brother, Perun, so he won't get scolded."