Under a thin, cloudy sky. Pokémon holes in the mountain skin and a lake gently nestled there were illuminated by the blue and white moonlight weakened by thin clouds, reflecting the surrounding views on the calm waters.
The tall grass flowers that adorn the campus on the surface of the water extend to enclose the lake and shine blue as if they were moonlight and photosynthetic as well. In contrast, unlike during the day, where the animals were not visible, there was a hint of serenity.
On the banks of such a lake, Ray sits alone with an emotionless face and drops his face to the ground.
In front of Ray was the tomb of Redick, eroded by fast-growing grasshoppers, as the lake symbolized a place that strongly benefited the world tree.
"... it's still too early to go home naturally"
That's what Ray says, he starts pulling out the grass flowers that grew around his grave. Carefully unplugged one by one, Ray hand-finished the ground he dug, and when he chose some beautiful colored flowers from them and laid them down in front of the grave, he looked up at the starry sky, shining brightly, without even joining hands.
"... Father, Haku is back today. With the people I met on my journey."
How many times will this be the case?
On the day when the pain ran in his heart, it was bound to be this way that Ray came to this place, talking to the sky alone.
As almost every day already, Ray's heart has been based on this lake since the Battle of the King's Capital, which ended more than a month ago.
Even on the day Redik's funeral was held in the village of Sierra.
Even the day Anna and I swore vengeance.
Even the day Skull blamed me.
Even the day I fought Mullah.
Over and over again.
The day I couldn't help but remember my father's death comes here only.
Ray realizes that's weakness and still comes because he keeps burning the fire of revenge by reporting in front of Redick that he's taken another step each time?
"Haku, I was crying.... No, it's not just Huck. Everybody still can't wipe their tears for some reason.... That's crazy. My dad used to laugh till the end."
I can't laugh from the bottom of my heart either.
Yes, Ray shrugged slightly down and looked up at the sky again.
"I wanted to compete with my father and get over it. That was awesome, my dad."
It's one of Ray's dreams.
Only Ray kept following that back, a strong wish.
But that's already... a dream that will never come true.
"... so look here. I'll make sure to go beyond my father one day. Let him be a better looking man than his father. Let him be a free adventurer over his father. Then... let me hear your voice for once. My father's voice."
That's a wish. He wants to hear Redick's voice when he's dead, he wants to talk.
Give me that word. Again.
Ray wanted to hear it from the bottom of his heart. So, more than once, you swear on this occasion.
Only for that matter, I think it will reach Redick.
"─ Ray."
Unexpectedly, a voice sounded like stroking a quiet night. When Ray turned his face in the direction of that voice, he had a worrying look on his face and Charstena stood in the shadow of the tree.
"... what are you doing?
Asked so, Charstena's red hair, with her hips down next to Ray's, was slightly wet as to whether it was hot water. If you look closely, the moonlighted face is also thin and upbeat.
Did you come looking for yourself when you left home on your own?
With that in mind, Ray looked a little badly punished and scratched his head.
"I was looking at the sky... I used to hear that when you die, people become stars... so I was looking for a horse or a deer shaped star."
Looking up at the sky, Ray said to deceive him on the way, but what hasn't become distressing is that Ray realizes himself?
If I could show that weak grin that would disappear if I blew it, I'd be mentally depressed, I knew round and round.
"So you come here sometimes?
"... well... sometimes"
Ray drops his gaze around the lake, emphasizing sometimes. It was as if, as I said, I didn't want to be seen with my current expression, I shifted my face away from Charstena so clearly for Ray.
So she decided to step in. To Ray's heart.
Perhaps now that I thought it was the only time she would show me the way it is, I wanted to hear it in her heart, and she asks Ray.
"Why aren't you crying?
Charstena doesn't know Ray's tears. I don't know that Ray's eyes were wet because of the painful grief before he turned into hatred.
Ray was already weeping out when she rushed. Ever since. Until today, Ray had never cried.
But Ray's heart is crying, all the time. The rain that never stops that day keeps getting wet.
And yet, Ray doesn't try to put it on the table. I didn't try to spit out the screams that accumulated within.
That's because he decided to take revenge, Ray said. I thought that would help me sort my mind out.
But it shouldn't be. If you're really organized, you're not going to walk here with your feet full.
So I wanted to know the truth. I wanted you to say it without hiding your true feelings.
I can't say anything because I can do something for you. But maybe I can do something for you.
If you want to help me get over my grief, like I was saved by Ray, maybe I can.
Charlstena pleaded, lifting Ray's hand with both hands, trying to determine the dullness as she leaned down.
"Please, Ray"
".................. ok"
Pleaded by Charstena with a serious look on this one, Ray nodded, as he had noticed, slightly turning his gaze before eventually dropping it to the center of the lake.
"Once upon a time... I was told here. Dream on. My father said that dreams illuminate people's paths... so even if I was about to stop, if I had dreams, I could get over them. So..."
Ray reflects the time on the lake.
Shown there, young self and my father's back. The leaves that fall there shake the surface of the water, distorting the past.
Reflecting a distorted past in his eyes, Ray bit his back teeth once hard before continuing his words.
"So... I don't cry anymore. If I cry, my father will worry that I stopped. Plus... I swore I'd keep moving forward."
Ray looks up gleefully and looks forward. In its eyes, the past, the future, not even the present. I can just see the will and patience.
Charstena should never have thought that Ray like that was tied to death in a different way than she was.
"... I'm sorry. If I had been more careful..."
It was absurd to say anything more. Whatever you say, where you regret and repent, your lost life will never come back.
But then, at that moment, if I had kept it warm without my power as a goddess, Ray might never have seen my father die. I may not have hung that curse right now.
When I thought about it, I really didn't regret it.
"There's nothing for Charles to apologize for. Charles did enough for me."
"Yeah, sorry......"
Charstena's apologetic voice was trembling and her whimpers were mixed. I've been chasing the dead for so long, because now Ray knows how it feels, twice as much as people do.
Even though I knew it was strange to cry, I couldn't help but suppress it.
Ray notices such a change in her voice and turns to her face. Tear-wet eyes and bewildered eyes exchanged under the moonlight.
"... why is Charles crying?"
"Because... because... when Ray is hard, I can't do anything... and I can't help you... and I hate that, so at least I cry instead of Ray, who can't cry. I can't believe I'm doing this to you..."
It's just an excuse. I just couldn't stand it.
Charstena was different. She tried to delude herself by making excuses for the tears that had sprung up and poked her out.
But such a fallacy can't even work on Ray, who knows how clumsy Charstena is.
Softly loosening her cheeks, Ray snorts her tears with his fingers and mouths a favor.
"Then why don't you listen to me for a second? Just a little, maybe a long time, but an old story..."
"... yeah"
Ray peered into the lake with some distant eyes as he wiped his tears and reassured Charstena, who raised his face.
"... I used to not like my father."
Ray's old story started with those words.
It's a long time ago if you think about it now. But I remember that very well.
"Not only about my father, but my mother, more importantly, didn't like everyone who lived in this world. It didn't matter."
Without even realizing that I was reincarnated, I made fun of the adults I deal with as just children, insulted them, and I didn't try to open my heart to what was real.
Charstena only put a small hammer in Ray's monologue and listened.
"So, a little before I turned 2. When I was only a year old, I left the village alone. I just wanted to know what kind of world this place was, and I didn't care if my fathers were worried, and I just wanted to keep going around the world."
I was just trying to throw away what I didn't need and live for myself.
Ray smiles as little as he mocks himself about what a two-year-old kid is doing with his past.
"Now I think... I was an idiot. But I meant it then. In fact, I could have fought demons even at the age of two. You may not believe it, but I even defeated the D-level demon."
"I believe you. I know best that Ray is impotent."
Do you have credibility or not?
Ray zeroes a bitter laugh at the answer to how to take it and how to react.
"So I tried a demon that seemed strong on track. I found out later, but he was in B grade. I couldn't get my hands or feet out. I thought I was dying like this. Still, think about it, okay? I don't like pain. I didn't think you were afraid to die."
I can't help but laugh as I speak when I think that's the underlying thing that was supposed to give me the title of wanting to die.
Now that I know the spiciness to lose, I wouldn't be able to get out that recklessly. Not because of a sense of responsibility that if I die, this world will end, but because I don't think I want to let the same thoughts carry around.
"... but then my father came to help me. You look desperate with sweat, and you're here to help. The demon was instantly killed by my father, and I was laughing at it. I was excited that this guy was so strong.... but my dad was really worried about me... and when he found out I was safe, he cried so badly, he hugged me so painfully. That's when I thought."
Look at my father's tears. Painfully tightened.
Ray finally figured it out.
"Oh... I'm this guy's kid,"
Think of it, for the first time then, Ray realized the existence of a father. Until then, somewhere appropriately, I played with my kids in a leisurely half-play with the feeling of even playing games, which made me mean that day to the border.
"When my father took me home and my mother slapped me in the face as much as she wanted, I couldn't help but be happy. Here, in this world, I was happy to have my own family, and I couldn't help it. My father and mother are here because this world isn't the same as before..."
So Ray wanted to live in this world. I wanted to relate to people.
It's all because Redick's strong embrace opened Ray's heart that day.
"My father and mother gave me a family where there was nothing. So I loved it. My father was overprotective. Except when I was auditioning, but other than that, I never slapped him about me. He was a great caretaker of his family. I've always admired that back. He was usually an idiot and helpless father... but he was a very well-dressed man. He wants to be a guy like that, he wants to go beyond that guy, he's made it his goal."
That's still the same now. No, it won't change forever.
"I've made a lot of mistakes. I was wrong that acting selfish was a shortcut to freedom... and I thought I could do anything... and if Charles hadn't stopped me, I wouldn't have noticed how I really felt. So I want to talk to Charles properly. The answer I found out in the world."
To her, who gave me the kick-ass to face myself, Ray put the answer I found on this journey - no, I went far and realized how I felt, in words, into my mouth.
"I've been chasing my father's back the whole time. Because I'm a free man like that guy, but I wanted to be a cool guy. That's why the answer I've been looking for has always been here."
Ray puts his hand on his chest, and at that time, he still grabs the thoughts he couldn't speak of.
"Not what I'm aiming for, but I... I want to be an adventurer like my father"
There's nothing wrong with that. I traveled alone and asked the world for answers, but there were answers in Ray from the beginning.
Ray laughed mockingly at what a long way he had really gone, but Charlstena was happy to hear it.
"I think it's great. He's like a boy, he's clear on where he's going, and most importantly, he's very ray."
"I guess I am... maybe I am. Wrong, but I've been trying to be that guy for so long... maybe nothing's changed after all"
With that in mind, Ray relieves anxiety of the answers he has searched for himself.
Was this a good idea to fulfill? Aren't you trying to go the wrong way again?
Yes, I asked myself, and Ray stared at me with a white, thin hand overlaid from the side.
"Yeah...... that's not true. It's just not the same thing to aim for somehow and to aim for knowing what you want to be right. Look, just throwing the ball over there, and throwing it with a proper aim, is going to change the place where the ball falls, right? And nagging. Ray had a problem with himself, and he gave me an answer, so I'm sure he will."
"... I hope so"
Ray, who nodded small, raised his face and laughed empty-handed.
"But that's very difficult. My father made it easy, but I can't do it. I knew that guy was really cool."
Ray strokes the pattern of scarlet flame softly and resides a strong determination in its face.
"So I will avenge the Demon King. So, it's not like I can go beyond my dad, but even if it means feelings, I think this is something I have to do."
I can't forgive you. I don't feel like crying to sleep like this.
Redick said.
He says it's the adventurer who does what he wants.
Then I won't do anything against this feeling. Because there's only one goal ahead of me.
"Ray......"
Ray turns a rugged, scary face to the darkness in front of him. The flames of vengeance that dwell in its eyes are burning all the other emotions that burn to death.
Sharstena, who was staring at him next to him like that, socked his hand around his head and hugged him to his body.
The feeling of playing softly hits Ray's face. A hand with little force or other held Ray's head, and a weak embrace surrounded Ray so weak that if a little force was put into it, he would likely untie it.
"Char......?
Ray doesn't do anything to unwave the embrace, he looks up at her face with only his gaze.
To Ray like that, Charstena has a word.
"... you can cry"
That said, she pushed Ray's face hard against her own chest.
"Now I don't see anybody crying about Ray. I'll hide it all for you. So... you can cry as much as you like."
A gentle, heart-staining voice.
It stimulates Ray's pain and tries to pull him up from the deep end. But the fire that crushes it from the top and burns it out.
Even that, Charstena accepts and gently wraps it around with her arms.
"Don't suppress the voice of your heart. Because that voice is very important to Ray. Only now... only when you're in front of me, don't be patient. I don't want to see Ray. Because I'll never show it to anyone else. So you can cry when you want to."
"... I..."
I can't find a good word.
The voice of my heart that I was suppressing sprang up, my chest filled with it, hooked to my throat before I could get out to my mouth.
"... this is all I can do... but I know Ray is putting up with his desperate desire to cry. So, I'm gonna cry a lot, I'm gonna grieve a lot, and then I'm gonna show you my face that I'm not putting up with Ray's desire to cry, I'm gonna try my best, okay? I'm sure your father would like that."
My eyeballs get hot. My chest is painful without any help.
Ray buried his face deep in Charstena's chest so that it would still melt, but not warm enough, to escape.
"... I won't cry. Never...... don't cry"
My voice was trembling.
"Yeah."
My body was shaking too.
"... but just a little... just a little bit. Let me stay..."
To hold on to that tremor, Charstena's hands drew Ray's head and back hard.
"... yeah"
The cold wind at night felt colder than usual.
But the warm temperature that touched my face protected Ray from the cold.
The clear moon light of the clouds illuminates the lake.
The light of the blue and white moon continued to reflect the two of us in the lake.
Until nightfall, all the way...