The Power Enthusiast

MINERVO 05: A Mother's Cry

As Roswel said; from now on, there will be a time limit on the completion of the task, and the maximum time will be one month. Making Paul very surprised to hear it, even he could not sleep thinking about it repeatedly while lying on the surface of the mattress. He was agitated, restless, depressed, and unable to think clearly. Because Paul is confused about where to find ten humans, which will later be used as a place to immerse the firefly spirits.

Paul is really freaking out right now. Moreover, Roswel said, there will be a penalty for Paul, if he cannot complete his task in one month. Paul glanced at a jar containing ten fireflies on the table beside his bed.

Sighing his breath, Paul smiled bitterly at the firefly caged inside the jar.

"You're a hassle." After saying that to the fireflies, Paul turned off his bedroom lights and went to sleep immediately, resting his chaotic mind and body, so that he could be refreshed tomorrow.

The next day, Paul woke up earlier than usual. When he saw the wall clock attached to the wall of his room, he was quite surprised, because it turned out that the clock showed four hours and twenty-five minutes. It's too early. Actually Paul wants to sleep again, because drowsiness still covers him. But he forced himself to go to the bathroom, because he was going to leave today, carrying out his duties.

When Paul came out of his room, a dark atmosphere began to welcome him, because his mother did have a habit of turning off lights throughout the room at midnight, he said, to avoid ghosts. But, according to Paul, isn't a dark room a comfortable place for such creatures, huh?

Yes, Paul was also not too bothered, he immediately walked forward to the stairs, through total darkness, to go down to the bathroom located on the lower floor, next to the kitchen space.

Step by step, Paul went through until he finally arrived at the bathroom door. As Paul pushed the bathroom door, he felt the presence of someone behind him. Paul looked back quickly, though,

"It's not usually that you get up this early, Paul."

It turned out to be Paul's birth mother, not a ghost figure or anything like that. Paul exhaled a sigh of relief, as the tense feeling he felt had disappeared.

"Other times if you're behind me, try saying something, so I don't think things are weird, Mom."

Hearing his son say that, for some reason, made the woman furrow both eyebrows, not understanding what Paul meant.

"Huh? Thinking of strange things? I'm just surprised you get up so early, when you usually get up at eight."

"It's none of your business, ma'am."

Paul went straight into the bathroom casually, leaving his exasperated mother to hear his rude answer. But Paul didn't think too much about it, all he wanted right now, was a shower. Cleansing his sticky body. To be clean again like a newborn.

"Huh... The water was cold." said Paul after finishing his bath, now he was in his room, staring at the reflection of himself in the mirror of the closet; still horned, bare-chested, and hair drenched. His body was fresh, it felt like he was ready to do everything today. That's how Paul, his spirit will soar every time after bathing.

Only spend a few minutes wearing clothes, pants, and shoes. Until finally, his appearance looked very neat now.

The sun also seems to have risen, you see, the window curtain of his room so bright exposed to the light. But because Paul rarely opened the window curtain of his room, he left it closed. Then, without further ado, Paul clutching the jar on the bedside table, which contained fireflies, to take away.

"Paul!? Why don't you wear your school uniform! And also! What did you bring that!? A jar!? What are you carrying the jar for!?"

As he climbed down the stairs, Paul was startled by the screams of his mother sitting on the living room couch, playing with glasses on her phone. Not only that, Paul was also shocked about the question of 'school uniform', shouldn't his mother already know that her son has been expelled from school? Is it not because Roswel erased his mother's memory.

"Dam. I thought he had only erased the memories of when Mom met him, but I didn't think that the memories of me being expelled from school had also been erased by him." - Paul grumbled in a quiet voice, annoyed at Roswel, but it was not heard by the mother.

And now, Paul is confused as to how to explain all that to his biological mother, especially he knows very well that his mother has a fairly high temperament. Paul did not want to make his mother angry on this sunny morning, but he also did not want to lie to her condition. Because it would be exhausting if you have to keep hiding the truth. Finally, forced, Paul approached his mother, and she sat face to face with the mother in the guest chair, not forgetting to put a jar filled with fireflies on the guest table for a while.

"So? Why don't you wear your school uniform, Paul? But take it easy, since it's still early morning, you still have time to change your clothes. Wait especially? Come on, quickly go back to your room." she told Paul, with a gentle tone and eyes focused on her phone, and a busy hand sliding the screen.

Taking a deep breath, and exhaled again, Paul began to venture to explain everything from the beginning, regarding the problem at school until it could be issued directly by the headmaster to the mother, who was not involved in the matter, to other trivial problems. Except for the problem of Roswel's appearance and related matters, Paul did not discuss it. And when his mouth was busy explaining it to his mother, in his heart, Paul was terrified. Yeah, he's so scared.

"...so there you go, Mom. I'm really sorry."

Paul lowered his head, he was ready to be slapped, hit, or even more than that. Because all the parents in this world, would be very angry and disappointed to hear his son was expelled from school for making trouble.

However,

Tests. Tests. Tests. Tests.

Paul saw a drop of water falling on the floor, he immediately straightened his head to look at the mother's face, and gosh. Unexpectedly, it turned out that the woman was crying, until the glasses she was wearing, as well as the cellphone she was holding, were wet with tears.

"Eh!? Why are you crying!?"

Paul was shocked and confused, because just this time, he saw his mother crying so much. It was the first time in his life that he saw his mother cry. So she had to figure out how to get her mom to stop crying.

Paul even remembered once, when he heard his biological father died, the mother did not drop her tears at all. His mother only had a moody expression at that time, but not to the point of crying. Until the funeral, Paul saw no sign of his mother crying over her dead father. At that time, all the relatives, grandparents, even himself cried bitterly to see his father buried, but only his mother did not cry.

And today, Paul was finally able to witness his mother's cry.

"Paul..," cried the mother, with sobbing breath. "Why didn't you tell Mom from the beginning that you were in such a big trouble? Why didn't you tell your mother this? Are you too afraid to talk about it with Mom? Did you scare that in your eyes?"

Surprised, Paul was at a loss for what to answer, but whatever it was, he had to respond to his mother's words, let alone at this moment, the mother was shedding tears.

"T-No, Mom! Ak-i's... I'm just worried this could disappoint you! S-So that's why, I hid it from Mom. But, since it seemed like now was a good time, I started to dare to be honest."

Heat. Real hot. Both of Paul's eyes, for some reason, were so hot when he said that to his mother. Ah, her tears are dripping. It's a shame. Paul is known as a delinquent, but what is this? She can cry like a child.

However, Paul only cried in silence, while his mother cried with a gag. They stared at each other for a long time. Until finally, the mother kept her phone to the guest table, then she stood up from her sofa and immediately hugged her son very tightly.

"Don't worry, Paul," The woman rubbed her son's back gently as she shed her tears. "This time, I won't yell at you. So, you don't have to be afraid of me anymore, okay? Because it's... Actually was... I love you so much."

"I'm sorry for disappointing you, ma'am." Paul replied in a heavy tone.

"It's okay."

Then, the mother ended her embrace, and looked at the face of the child only unfortunately, who is now almost a grown man. The woman gave a sweet smile to Paul, while Paul was too nervous to look at his mother's face directly, so his eyeballs occasionally glanced sideways. But, Paul knew that right now, his mother was smiling at him.

"So, can you tell Mom why you want to get out of the house with a jar of fireflies, Paul?"

Hearing that question, made Paul's heart dag-dig-du not careless. And on the other hand, Paul no longer wanted to lie to his mother, especially after seeing the woman cry. So, what can I do. He should be honest now.

"Actually, I was going to find ten humans to be the dwelling place for these firefly-shaped spirits, Mom. I was chosen to be a mentor. And I have to finish my work within a month, because if I can't finish my work in a month, then I will be punished. Also on the contrary, I will get a reward if I can finish it on time."

"Hm? Mom doesn't understand. But, well, since you seem to be very serious about saying that, I let you. But, Paul, you have to go home for dinner. Okay?"

"Good, Mom!"