Chapter 25: Mom and Dad

Chaos year 3, Day 110, 8:06 am.

"Onii-chan, we are gonna be late!" Riko kept yelling from outside the house. "Come out! Fast!"

"Geez, my headache is getting worse," I said, stepping out of the front gate. "I couldn't even have my coffee because of your nagging,"

Riko was swinging her legs sitting on the back of my bike. "You can get your coffee from a bending machine later," she said. "Mom's gonna be mad if we're late."

"Heh," I smirked as I got on my bike. "I'm sure she won't even have time for that."

She didn't reply, just held onto me. I began paddling at a steady pace. Soon we left behind our neighborhood and reached the road beside the Arata river.

Riko remained silent for a while, which was unusual for her. I peeked at her over my shoulder. She seemed a bit distracted.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"Hmm? Yeah," she replied. "The weather is pretty nice today, right?"

"You think so?" I said, glancing at the river.

There was not really anything special. The river kept flowing at its usual speed. The morning sun in the eastern sky rose pretty high already. Even though it was summer, the daylight was not that hot yet. So, the mild breeze felt pretty good.

"Yeah, I guess," I replied after a pause.

It was silent again for a while. Only the constant sound of the river flowing could be heard. Then suddenly Riko asked, "Do you think Mom's gonna cry again today?"

This time I couldn't reply. The rest of the way was dead silent. We left behind the riverside road and entered the outskirts of the city. Soon we reached our destination, the graveyard.

Parking the bike outside the gate, we walked through a long narrow road. Many gravestones were spread around everywhere. After a few minutes, we spotted our mother standing in front of a well-decorated cemetery.

"Shiori-san, the flight is in 1 hour. I don't think waiting anymore would be a good idea," said a man in his thirties, standing behind her.

"Let's wait a bit longer. They should be here by now," Mom replied.

"Don't worry, Manager-san. We're already here." Riko called out.

Both he and Mom turned toward us. Even though Mom was dressed in full black with a black hat, she still looked the most photogenic one here. Whereas we wore our regular clothes. Me, a t-shirt and jeans, and Riko a long one-piece dress.

"You guys should already know how busy your mother is. Please be mindful of that." The manager seemed to be more stressed out than my mother who's supposed to be the busy one.

We didn't say anything. We knew how busy she was. Being in showbiz wasn't an easy job. We silently stood beside her in front of the tombstone. The manager left the place and lit a cigarette behind the Sakura tree, which was more green than pink right now. Mom also didn't say anything. She began her prayer, staring at the picture hanging on the tombstone.

I finally turned forward and focused on Dad. That tombstone was forever our Dad. He died just a month after Riko was born, which means I was only 2 at that time. So I had no real memories with Dad. The stories about him and his pictures were my only sources of information about him.

I didn't know what to say to him. Instead, I peeked at Mom. She was crying like always. This was the only place I ever saw her crying.

After a couple of minutes of grieving, Mom finally turned to us. The manager out of nowhere appeared behind her with a tissue in his hand. Wiping her tears with the tissue, she looked at us with a smile.

Which one is her acting? I couldn't tell anymore.

"Have you been well? Are you eating properly? Are you going to school regularly?"

She kept asking all kinds of questions and we just nodded away. It was like a ritual every time we met.

"Ryoki." Mom then turned to me.

Here it comes.

"Are you sure you dont wanna move back home? I could get you into any school in Tokyo. You would definitely have a better future there."

"You already know my answer, Mom." I looked away.

Mom sighed with a sad expression on her face. Watching that, the manager began, "That incident happened when you were in middle school. It shouldn't affect your high school life. Why are you still stuck in…"

He couldn't finish the sentence. Mom stopped him, grabbing his arm. I stayed silent as usual.

"Don't worry, Mom. It'll be fine. I'll look after Onii-chan," Riko said with a proud stance.

"Shut up, I can take care of myself." It kinda ticked me off.

"Right, you can." She smirked at me. "You can't even cook."

Ugh, crushed in seconds…

Watching us arguing, Mom smiled with an endearing look. I knew what was coming next. So I took a step back. She had to satisfy herself with just Riko this time. Patting Riko's head, she hugged her.

"We have to go now, Shiori-san." The manager interrupted.

"Right." Mom nodded and let go of Riko. "I'll be back soon. Goodbye."

With a smile, we waved our hands as she walked away.

"Onii-chan, let's eat at a restaurant. It's been a long time since we had something decent."

"Nah, can't today." I began taking long strides.

"Eh, why?" Riko had to run to catch up to me.

"I have to get inside the game."

"So early today? Did something happen?"

"It's hard to explain," I said, unlocking my bike from the bike locker. "Get on fast."

We were supposed to meet again in 8 hours, which is at 9:30 am. I should be able to reach home by then. I paddled as fast as I could.

It took a bit more than 15 mins to get home. After resting a bit, I went for the VR capsule and logged into Chaos.

"Good morning, Master," Riri greeted.

"Good morning," I replied with a smile. I never was this much excited to enter the game. "Let me in. El Psy Congrii."