The Crisis World XX

Chap. 96: Removing Past Wounds

"Good night, …."

Her last lip gesture could be read by the little girl, mentioning her real name which she had never used again. He then saw the mature woman covered him gently and affectionately and lastly gave a good-night kiss on his forehead.

After that, the adult woman left her room and closed the door. Unfortunately the little girl had fresh eyes and was not sleepy at all, so she just stared blankly at the dirty ceiling of her room.

After a moment of daydreaming, drowsiness finally attacked him as well and his eyes were no longer able to open. So he closed his eyes.

Braaakh…

When the little girl had wanted to sleep, suddenly from outside her room there was a noise like a slam and throw a lot of things. The little girl's eyes immediately opened again and now her drowsiness was replaced with fear.

There were voices of adult women and adult men arguing from outside the room. While the little girl could only pull her blanket up her nose trying to hide in fear.

Braakkh…

Her voice was getting louder and closer to the little girl's room and made her even more frightened. And finally the peak of his fear occurred when the door of his room was broken and the adult woman was pushed to the edge of the little girl's bed.

The little girl quickly changed her position from sleeping to sitting while still hiding in her blanket. He saw the face of the adult woman who was crying and there was a bruise on her face.

The little girl tried to let out her voice but couldn't because she was too scared. He wanted to help the mature woman but his small body could only tremble at this moment.

Then a grown man came along carrying an empty bottle of cheap beer. But the way the grown man held the neck of his beer bottle was different, he held it like he wanted to smash it at someone.

And the little girl's guess was correct, the grown man had already taken the cue to hit the mature woman earlier. With all the courage he had back then and his meager strength, he leaped towards the mature woman while shouting.

"Dad, no!"

**

Caramel opened her eyes. And the first thing he saw at this time was the ceiling of the Iraya house, much nicer than the ceiling of his house first. He turned on the lamp to sleep on a small table beside his bed and sat down to collect his life.

Caramel then looks towards the wall clock which shows at 5 am and the sun has not yet risen. He got up from his bed and did a little stretching before walking out of the room.

The atmosphere outside the room was still quiet and dark. The person who lived here seemed to still be sleeping and Caramel this time was freer to surround the house.

"Running around a little bit might be okay."

Everything looks normal and looks like a house in general, even though this house is much nicer than his previous home. Caramel then went down and wanted to go around downstairs. But he heard something in the kitchen.

"Hmm?"

"This time I want to try to make another one, ah!"

A little boy talking to himself while busy bringing out the ingredients that he will prepare to make breakfast later, he is Tetsu. Tetsu opened the recipe book again and looked for the recipes he would make at this time.

"Here we go!"

"Join …."

"Yeah! Who's that?!"

Tetsu was surprised that someone called him. He shouted and immediately looked back while reflexively pointing a knife at the person who surprised him. While Caramel only raised his hand evidence that he was innocent.

"It's me, you know."

"Ohh .. You're awake, don't surprise me like that."

"Ma-I'm sorry."

"Oh yeah, what's your name?"

"I'm Caramel. By the way, what are you doing?"

"I'm making breakfast .. and you can call me Tetsu."

"Tetsu, huh?"

Tetsu nodded and returned busy to prepare breakfast again. Looking at Tetsu who was being undisturbed, Caramel suddenly had an idea inside his head that made him grin. He then approached Tetsu while picking up a knife on the table.

"Hey, Tetsu."

"There's ap—? Oh?! What do you want to do with that knife?! Oh!"

**

Kriiing…

Meanwhile in Iraya's room, she wakes up when her alarm clock goes off at 6am. As in the other mornings, he did nothing because he was still off school as well, more precisely he, Herlin, Kudou, and Hira were off due to incidents in his class.

"You awake?"

"Hmm? Yes that's ... hoaamm .. I think I want to sleep again."

"Wake up, you slacker! Don't think because you're not in school you can sleep until noon."

"Hahaha .. Your words remind me of my mother's words. All right, all right, I'm up."

Forcibly forced Cecilia I finally got out of my bed despite still being half conscious. I walked down the stairs and found that all the rooms below were clean and shiny, indicating that Tetsu was awake.

But something surprised me when I looked at the kitchen. From the direction of the kitchen door I could see knives and red liquid splattered on the kitchen floor, I who was still half conscious immediately got up and ran towards the kitchen.

I'm worried about Tetsu who's usually in the kitchen at this hour. Did a thief break into my house? Tetsu should have been able to wake me up.

"Tetsu! Are you all right?! Uh?"

"Oh, Iraya! You're awake!"

"Yaho."

"The caramel? Tetsu?"

There was indeed Tetsu in the kitchen, but there were no thieves and there was only Caramel there. I looked at the red liquid again and it was just tomato sauce and a knife on the floor.

"Geez, what's wrong with me."

"Iraya, Iraya! I made omurice with Caramel! Let's see!"

I also saw two ready-made omurices on the table. Both are equally messy and not neat at all, then there is the inscription of my name and the name Caramel on it. So they made this up until the kitchen fell apart.

I also saw their dirty clothes with stains of sauce and oil, although Tetsu was luckier because he wore an apron. I could only sigh, their faces both showing the joy of a sister.

"Because you've been having a hard time making it, let's eat."

"Come on!"

We ate together—more precisely me and Caramel, anyway. I tried the first feed and it did not taste as bad as it looked, it could be said to taste good. They both have a talent for cooking, yes.

Without me noticing, Caramel and Tetsu were happily smiling at me who was busy eating their dishes. They seem happy with the result. Caramel ate it too.

"You eat, too, dong" said Tetsu.

"You're right. Have a good meal."

Caramel ate her first bite, after a while of chewing she then looked at Tetsu and nodded her head in the sign that the cuisine was good.

"Ehehehe .. I was great so naturally my food was good. But I thank you with your help too, Caramel."

Caramel just smiled with her mouth full of chewing. He had not felt the taste of eating together like this for a long time, when with the boss everything was cold and there were no pleasant moments like this.

But now it's different. Caramel can feel the warmth of the current interaction of eating together. It was as if he had no regrets at all for having chosen to release Iraya back then. But because of this warmth he also accidentally remembered about his past, past with his parents.

The meal was finished quickly and happily. Tetsu who could not help his hunger finally took a pencil at my study table and ate with us. I got up and wanted to wash my dishes.

"Alright, I'll wash the dishes first."

"Want me help?" ask Caramel.

"No need, I can do it myself."

"Here you go, let me help you."

Caramel grabbed the plate that was in my grasp and took it to the kitchen. I sometimes don't understand his mindset, so I let him do it. And we ended up washing dishes together.

While washing the dishes, Caramel suddenly asked me to speak.

"Nee, Iraya."

"What else?"

"I've helped you wash the dishes, so I can ask you to return the favor, right?"

"I know you must be up to something."

Caramel just smiled knowing my curiosity. But again I saw the lamentation of sorrow that he emanated from his eyes, which made me inevitably have to obey.

"Huh ... okay, what do you want?"

"Let's go somewhere, yeah."

"Where are you going?"

"Later you know too. Many ask, ah."

And that's how we both ended up going where Caramel wanted to go. At first I thought he wanted to go see one of his Assassin friends or some other fancy place, but it turned out that my guess was wrong. Right now we are in front of a boarding house that looks dirty and unkempt.

"If they're still here, this should be the right place, anyway. Oh yes Iraya, can you promise me one thing?"

"What promise?"

"Can I promise no?"

"All right, all right, I promise! What do you want to do, anyway?"

"Ehehehe .. When we meet the person inside, just look and do nothing, okay?"

Because I promised, I would not want to comply with his request. And Caramel knocked on the door of the boarding house, its loud sound indicating that the door was thin and easily damaged. After waiting for a while, someone came out of the house.

"Yes, who is it?"

The one who opened the door was a white-haired adult woman who already had a slight frown on her face. The woman looked puzzled by my and Caramel's presence, but Caramel greeted her and made her realize who the person in front of her was right now.

"Hello, Mama. Is Mama in good health?"

The woman was shocked by the words Herlin had issued. He closed his mouth with his hands together with his eyes that began to shed tears. The woman immediately hugged Caramel and let out a happy cry.

"Where have you been all this time? You're a big man now."

From inside the house also seen an adult man who was equally surprised and immediately embraced Caramel as well. The reunion that Caramel had long been waiting for and he could again feel the embrace of his parents after a long time.

"Where have you been? I miss you so much."

"I'm sorry, Dad. I left without permission that time."

"It's okay, as long as you're back we'll both forgive you."

The two of them then let go of his embrace and started looking at Caramel again. I who was the witness of their reunion could only smile and wait, I shouldn't have come along just now.

"Welcome, …."

Caramel's parents mentioned Caramel's real name which I just found out about right now. A very ordinary but also beautiful name, really describes the figure of Caramel. But Caramel did not smile after she was called by her real name.

"Dad, Mama, there's something I need to talk to you about."

"What is that, baby? We can talk about it inside."

"No, that's not necessary."

"What's wrong?"

"I still have things to take care of."

"Is that more important than us?"

Caramel's eyes widened when asked like that. Of course nothing is more important than both of his parents to Caramel. But he could not express it directly.

"Yes, that's how it is" said Caramel.

Caramel's tears began to fade and she began to wipe them off occasionally. He then spoke though in a very pleasant tone.

"I'm sorry .. I just want to see you guys happy .., just want us to be like the rest of the family."

"Then let's start again."

"Right, let's be a normal family from now on."

Both of Caramel's parents reached out their hands and accepted whatever Caramel was in. After all, she was his daughter, so the two would always welcome him back home.

"Thank you .. Thank you so much, Mama, Dad. Even after I left, you still accepted me back."

"What are you talking about? You're still our two children, of course we'll accept you."

"Your father is right."

"Yes .. is true as well. Mom, Dad .. thanks for everything. And I'm sorry."

Craaassh…

Two pieces of transparent aura pierced through Caramel's parents' stomachs from the direction of their backs. No one expected that, even I myself wanted to directly save them but suddenly Cecilia spoke.

"What are you—!"

"Stop, Iraya! You promised you wouldn't do anything, right?"

"But still …!"

"I know, I'm just as surprised. But I'm sure he must have had a reason."

The two Caramel parents who were dying and trying to remove that transparent aura from their stomachs could not do too much, either, and in the end they both breathed their last breath out of blood as Caramel hugged the two back.

"I'm really .. sorry …."

Shiii…

His voice was shaking like holding back a cry. Then Caramel made a cube that he used to put his parents and compacted it to the size of a marble ball and there was also a rope attached to the cube and Caramel was wearing it as a necklace around his neck.

After doing all that, Caramel then turned around and spoke to me. Although his eyes were still puffy but his tears had dried up.

"My business here is done."

"What are you doing?! They're your parents, right?! Why did you kill them?!"

"Didn't you see my mother's body? Full of bruises and bruises. Before I left home, they never got along. I can't bear to see the two of them continue like that, it makes me sad."

"But what should be that way?!"

"Now that they are immortal in this cube, they will continue with me until I die. I can't tell my dad to stop beating my mom, he's a drunk. Everything you see right now might change tonight, I just can't see them fighting anymore, so I'm doing this selfish thing."

"…."

"Oh yes, I am very grateful to you for not interfering in this matter. I really appreciate that."

"I can't do anything, anyway .. I promised."

Caramel smiled when she heard that. He later commented on his dirty clothes with his parents' traces of cooking and blood.

"Let's go outside, how about we go shopping at the mall? I need new clothes to stay at your house."

"But I have a little money left."

"Calm down, I still have a lot. Let's go!"

Caramel showed me her credit card. And inevitably I followed him in the back when he had already walked first quickly. But when it had gone far enough, Caramel suddenly stopped his steps.

"City, Iraya. Suddenly I thought of something."

"What else is it?"

"Do you want to be my girlfriend?"

"Ap—?! What are you talking about all of a sudden?!"

Instantly my face flushed red and my heart skipped a beat hearing the sudden statement from Caramel. I didn't expect him to say that at a time like this.

"You know for yourself, I've been an orphan and from now on I'll be living in your house. Isn't that too good a scenario to just be a friend?"

"Ta-ta-but still this is too sudden! W-are you serious? You're not planning anything, are you?"

"No, it's purely my feeling. You want to show me what a 'family' is, right? Why don't we try from there."

He said it so lightly and without burden. His face did not even blush when he said such an embarrassing thing earlier. Although this is an opportunity of my entire life and probably won't happen again, but somehow from the beginning I already knew the answer.

"Sorry, I can't take it. But I will still take responsibility for my promise and will make you understand what 'family' is'!"

"I thought so."

"Eh? So you knew the answer from the beginning?"

"Well, I can guess more or less. And I'm ready for that."

"But why are you still …."

Caramel smiled and turned around. He then continued his steps and left me again. I really don't know what's on his mind.

"What else are you waiting for? Let's go to the mall!" bring Caramel.

"Huh …. Wait for me, oi!"

"Oh yeah, one more thing."

Caramel suddenly threw something I could catch perfectly. I then noticed it and realized that this was the panda-shaped keychain I wanted to give to Herlin first.

"Why can this be with you?"

"I took it without you noticing. Let's go fast."

I put the keychain in my pants pocket and caught up with Caramel and our journey continues today.

Seriate