I felt a little tired from the events of the past few weeks. From the moment I got the system, it felt like somebody above had stepped on the acceleration pedal for my life and cut the break and handbrake cables while leaving a heavy boulder to stop it from slowing down…
There was a sense of fatigue, more mental than physical, although I felt enriched every day with new people and places and being able to hone my fighting skills.
But… Sometimes, I missed the small dream of going back to study and being with other students like an idiot before it was too late.
I had made a few appointments with the best-rated gyms in the area for learning more fighting styles as weapons just never felt right…
Is it my insistence on using what I knew best?
Because I couldn’t forget that the world would eventually have monsters, and some of them include those dangerous guys that even the gods couldn’t beat easily…
So, can this world remain peaceful for much longer? Is it fine for me to study in that time instead of getting stronger…
I don’t know the answer, and I feel that maybe I don’t have the right to waste time.
“Whatever, let’s go meet my sister. She seems to be waiting for me on the tenth floor.”
Sitting in the soft black chair in my living room with the lights off, my eyes closed, embracing the cool silence and absence of others.
“Is this what the world would be like with nobody else living?”
{I haven’t seen you in a few days, and you’ve become so strange. Rai, is everything alright? Do you need a kiss from Mommy?}
“Honesty… that might be great—you all disappeared so suddenly, and from speaking in my head constantly, now I am lucky to hear one of you speak in the day…”
{Sorry… when we are in a living form, it’s a little harder to speak with you…}
The small wolf form sat on my shoulder, nuzzling my face as if to cheer me up. Yet I worried that one day they might be gone without a world…
All of them vanished from my sight, and I would be back to being alone.
{Silly boy… We could never leave you.}
“Ah, so you say, but nothing is forever, right?”
With that, I gently patted her soft, furry head and entered the eternal dungeon with a heavy heart.
Even Anastasia is absent often these days, sometimes to help Haruka and Elizabeth, but she sometimes just vanishes, and I know… somehow where she is going.
In all honesty, there was a hunch a lot of small things that were adding up in my head, but I didn’t want to admit or guess and be wrong.
***
The same blue and purple lights enveloped my body, followed by the nausea and flashing lights from the tenth-floor meeting area.
I could see two girls sitting opposite each other… One I knew as the flat version of Eternia, but the other girl… She looked like Aki and Eternia mashed together…
So, my thoughts were correct… Aki and maybe many of the women around me are related to the sisters of Eternia…
Right, Lupera? Or is it Cassandra now?
{!!!}
There was a fear in my heart that the woman I loved… and wanted to be with would suddenly be absorbed by the sisters, and it made me avoid sleeping…
I slept with them until they feinted and would sneak out of the apartment and run… for hours, all to avoid these feelings.
Is Aki my Aki, or did that goddess take her from me?
Can I accept that? Would I kill the goddess because she took Aki away?
{Rai, please forgive me… it’s not that we wanted to hide—}
“Don’t.”
“I’ll hear everything from Eternia and that woman beside her.”
Don’t worry, Lupera, I won’t jump to a hysteric reaction and swear to get revenge or hate you all. If things were so sinister, then Haruka and Elizabeth would have changed, too, but they are the same idiots.
Slowly accepting my fate and worried about the future, I could see the blue hair of Celestia shining from the window and another beautiful woman beside her…
Her beauty was beyond all the women I had ever seen… her lips gave a gentle smile, mouthing. Do your best, Rai. Putting up her thumbs with a familiar stupid smile made me feel relaxed before they closed to curtains…
I don’t know why, but that woman and Celestia’s smile and reassurance warmed my cold heart, filled with fear and the desire to run away.
Especially the blonde beauty…
{That is Aphrodite… one of our older sisters. She only returned about a week ago…}
Around the time I slept with Anastasia, then…No… I don’t want to think of that now. This time is for Aki and Eternia.
I walked to the tables, ordered myself an iced latte and some light snacks and chose to sit opposite the two women without speaking, first taking a sip of my coffee as they looked at me with slightly worried eyes.
“Hello, Rai. How are you?”
Eternia spoke first; her voice sounded sad and guilty, which annoyed me.
“Hello, Eternia, hey, Aki.”
It was a test; I greeted the other goddess, who was the spitting image of Eternia, with the name of Aki, to test them and see if my hunch was right. The moment I did, my stomach sank, making me feel nervous as she looked at me with shocked, shimmering eyes.
“How did you…?”
Her voice trembled, and Eternia shook her head, patting Aki’s hand to calm her down as she looked at me with serious eyes.
“Rai… listen… I’m sorry we didn’t tell you sooner. I wanted to give you more time to adjust and understand everything, but it seems you found out early.”
“Don’t worry about it. Many strange things happened, and I started to notice a few strange things happening with the others, too.”
Eternia seemed worried; her beautiful, pale face was filled with guilt as Aki looked upset, but I calmed down.
“Listen, I don’t hate you two. Although it annoys me that you kept this secret from me, I can understand why you did… But please answer my questions honestly, or I will leave, and we can talk another time.”
“Are you the Aki I love with all my heart, or are you some goddess that has taken her body? Because no matter how much love you give me. If you aren’t my Aki, I will probably be the one to kill you one day.”
Surprisingly, my words were neither hateful nor sour but gentle and honest. I didn’t stutter or stop in between and said my honest feelings while looking at her in the eyes. I held a conviction this wasn’t needed, and she was my Aki, but… I had to be sure.
Seeing my honest gaze, Aki seemed shocked for a moment but burst into tears as she stood up, ran towards me and sat on my lap, hugging me tightly as Eternia sighed.
“I’m sorry, brother… I’m Aki. I’m your Aki; I promise on the candy ring I stole and blamed you for!”
Those words broke me.
It was something insignificant for others, but to Aki and me, it was the first month we had met each other while shopping—Mother passed by a display for candy wedding rings with fruit-flavoured gems, and it was so embarrassing, but Aki had taken one from the shelf and not told mother… it was expensive, a premium sweet due to the stickers and toy that came with it and the alarms beeped…
Ah… so embarrassing, that was the first and only time that my mother spanked my ass… and this cheeky girl came to me just like now after my ass was bright red, crying her eyes out and calling me brother for the first time…
I made her promise not to do so again, and from that day, I started a paper round… so I could buy those sweets for Aki once a week with half the money I earned.
Haha… Mother realised the truth shortly after, and we were both spanked again before being treated to take-out pizza for the first time.
To me, it was a dear memory… and it was enough.
My eyes grew hot, and tears streamed down my cheeks as I hugged her tightly—my arms wrapped around her waist, pulling her close as I kissed her lips gently, tasting the salty tears in our mouths.
My Aki was here… and Eternia, too.
After calming down, Aki wiped the tears from my cheeks as she smiled gently, caressing my cheeks as I hugged her waist, refusing to let go.
“Rai… I’m sorry… I wanted to tell you, but Celestia said it was better for you to find out yourself than forcefully tell you. After all… you needed to grow and mature more before finding out… otherwise, you might have lost yourself.”
“It’s fine, Aki. I don’t blame anyone. Celestia seems to understand humans better than I do… No, she understands me better than I do. So I believe her choice was the best for me.”
Aki seemed relieved hearing my words as Eternia chuckled softly; her gentle smile was beautiful as she sighed, shaking her head.
“Your other name is Eternium, right?” I whispered in her ear, feeling Aki nod against my neck as she hugged me tightly, afraid I would disappear.
“Yes… but please don’t call me that outside… I want to remain Aki in that world forever…”
“Me too, Aki. I’m sorry I couldn’t buy you those sweets more often.”
“Hehe, brother, don’t worry; I got lots of cream from you in return.”
I couldn’t help but frown at her teasing and pinch her plump butt as she yelped, glaring at me cutely as she pouted.
“You pervert, Rai… you’ve become bolder, pinching my ass like that.”
“Of course, I miss you so much… but you were the one dying for me to pinch your ass, don’t be pretending to be a high-strung goddess when you love to masturbate over your brother.”
“Pervert~ Brother is a dirty pervert~ hehe, Rai, do you still remember the game we played? Where we hid in the closet and watched Mother undress and then touched each oth—~”
Aki giggled innocently, teasing me as Eternia coughed, interrupting us.
“You two should wait to play your games later; we have important things to discuss right now.”