12 #12 Being a baby again is strange
---1 week since Akashi's mysterious disappearance---
"Leader..." Arno came inside Raksaya's office with a disheartened expression and called out to Raksaya who was staring blankly into space.
"Hm? Did you learn something new?" Raksaya woke up from her daze and asked Arno with a forced and sad smile.
"...No, it's too strange. We searched the place of his mission and even the place where he last sent his message but...We could only find dead bodies of terrorists and...Silver's body, no ruins, it's like they never even existed, to begin with." Arno said with a confused expression.
"...You can stop the search." Raksaya suddenly said after a few seconds of silence.
---
'Akashi sent me a message saying that he will bury Silver's body after he is done with his investigation. I don't believe that he wouldn't keep his promise and forget about it and the whole disappearance of the ruins is even more absurd. I have no idea what to think about it...Did some kind of higher being discovered about Akashi's talent or what the hell happened?! This is the only plausible explanation I could come up with after thinking about it for the whole week.' Raksaya thought while staring into the empty space once again.
---
"...What? If you are worried that you are making decisions only according to your emotions then you are wrong. Akashi was an extremely talented individual and the loss of his presence is affecting almost everyone here. Not to mention that he was a candidate for the next leader's position. It's only natural that we try to find him. Please, take this and decide after looking into it." Arno said and handed Raksaya envelope that was entrusted to him by Akashi.
"Is that..." Raksaya accepted it with slightly shaky hands.
"Yes, I will leave you alone, you can call me once you are done. I will be waiting behind the doors." Arno said and left.
Raksaya opened the envelope and there was a voice recorded with only 1 message. She unwillingly replayed it.
"Ehm, *clearing throat* ...to be honest, I have no idea what to say...Like, it feels weird to speak to the device about your own death, haha. Anyway, I hope the one listening to it is you, Raksaya, if it's anyone else...I will make sure to come back from the hell and strangle you, especially you, Arno. Anyway, what to say...since you are listening to this then I guess I am dead...who knows? Maybe it will get leaked and I will still be running around because Arno is capable of such a thing." Raksaya kept listening to it and even though tears started to fall from her eyes, her smile couldn't be brighter.
"Well, jokes aside. Raksaya, I have honestly no idea what would happen to you if I were to die one day so I can't say to you to be happy if I am not even sure if you will be sad. Just don't take it to your heart, I am still joking because I can't speak seriously about this kind of thing. Anyway, I just hope that once I am gone you will be able to move forward in your life, be it normal life or life in the shadows. Just don't be sad, you should be happy with me, at least I will be able to sleep for much longer than usual...." It continued for more than 5 minutes before the message finally ended but in the end, Akashi was only joking around. Only his last words were somewhat serious, wishing Raksaya best in her life and telling her to do whatever she wants.
"Heh, I guess even death is boring to him. He is right, I should do what I want. I spent too much time here." Raksaya muttered
"Arno!" Raksaya called out and Arno immediately came inside and got surprised when he saw the sight before him.
Raksaya's eyes were completely red from crying but the smile never disappeared from her face.
"Y-yes?" He asked while he was still in shock.
"I want to leave the organization and join Akashi's mother together with my daughter." Raksaya said with a happy smile.
"...Heh, alright but please wait until you select a new leader." Arno smiled upon hearing her words and plead for her to wait for a few more days.
"Akashi said that you are worthy enough and I think the same. We will make it formal in 3 days and I will also leave in 3 days." Raksaya said, not letting Arno say a word to his defense, not letting him to even refuse.
"...Heh, I understand." He shook his head with a smile and finally accepted.
...
Raksaya explained the situation to Akashi's mother and even though she cried for the entire night, Raksaya and her grandchild were there to comfort her. Raksaya even gave her Akashi's message which also brought a smile on her face, however, she immediately started lightly cursing Akashi for not behaving how he was supposed.
However, both Raksaya and Jane didn't believe that Akashi actually died. They couldn't come up with an explanation but they knew in their hearts that it's only his new beginning.
And since Raksaya left the organization, she also revealed herself as a real mother, unfortunately, the kid was still too small to comprehend her words but once they started to play together, they grew extremely closer and it looked like kid accepted both women as mothers.
--------------------------
...
---Back to Akashi---
I can't move...I thought as I tried my best to move my legs but soon enough I heard a woman's scream.
...The fuck?
After a few more minutes I finally saw a light but...I would rather keep details to myself...or more like I would like to forget them.
"Mistress, it's a healthy boy!" Said a woman wearing a traditional maid outfit while carrying me.
Is this France? What's up with that outfit, not to mention that it's too old. I saw numerous better maid outfits in games. I thought while looking around myself and I saw even strangely old ceiling.
"Give him to me!" The silver-haired woman said with an impatient and pleading tone.
The maid quickly gave me to the silver-haired woman.
...Wait
Gave me? Why are they holding me so easily and why everything around me seems so big?
Don't tell me I was reborn...Agh! And here I thought that I would be able to sleep inside that darkness. It was comfortable there but... now knowing what kind of place it was, I am content with being here. Not to mention that I will be able to laze around as a kid for numerous years! Yay!
"Waaah!" I started to cry because I wanted to celebrate my incoming lazy years but since I didn't know how to talk, I started crying.
"Oh? Is he perhaps hungry? Come to me!" The silver-haired woman said and revealed her breasts while bringing me closer.
Fuck! No! Noooo!
I thought inwardly but I was still hungry myself...I had to do it for my survival.
"Ember! How are you?!" The red-haired man with orange eyes rushed inside the room and worriedly shouted at the silver-haired woman.
I guess Ember is the name of my new mother...Speaking of mother, I hope she is doing good but since Raksaya is with her, she should be alright. As for why I am so sure that Raksaya is with her... I was already aware that I was the only thing keeping her in the organization... I feel kinda bad for doing this to her but there is no medicine for regret.
"Dear, look at our little boy! Look at his beautiful eyes!" She completely disregarded his question and instead showed me off.
Seeing this, the man looked towards the maid for answers.
"Lord Phoenix, both newborn and mistress are safe" The maid bowed and said with a respectful tone with closed eyes.
"I see, let me see his eyes." He said and approached me and Ember.
---
'?! What the hell are those eyes?! They look so strong even though he is just a newborn. Not to mention that bright red color which means that his genes are even purer than mine. He is a perfect example for my family but...are those...vertical slit pupils? I don't even want to imagine how intimidating he will look when he grows up. Now, the only thing that remains is the ritual, let's hope it will go alright as well.' Akashi's father thought when he saw his newborn son from up close.
---
Huh? What's up with that surprised face and that respectful tone? Was I reborn into the middle age era? Well, judging from the furniture in this room, it's not that old. Wait...am I even in the same world? If yes then why the hell would I move backward in time. I guess this must be another world but I...don't...have to care for now. Why am I so sleepy? Well, it's not like I mind, good night.
I thought and closed my eyes.
---Out of Akashi's POV---
"Jun, dear, is there something wrong?" Ember asked with a confused expression
"Not really but I need to perform the ritual as my father did with me" Jun, the red-haired man, answered with a stern expression.
"Dear...do we really need to do that?" Ember asked with a worried expression.
"Don't worry, all members of the Phoenix family were quite resistant to fire, even at a young age. That's also one of the reasons why I need to perform it." Jun said with a serious expression and Ember reluctantly parted with her newborn son.
Jun took Akashi into both hands and approached the fireplace inside the room.
Both Ember and the maid nervously watched while clenching their hands together.
"As the 10th leader of the Phoenix family, I grant you, my son, the name Akashi. The entire Phoenix family hopes you will be strong enough to accept the fire as your companion and continue to honor our family's name." Jun said and put his hands with Akashi above the fire but the flickering flame was still close enough to touch Akashi's back.
The flame suddenly grew much bigger and engulfed Jun's hands together with Akashi.
"?!" Jun was surprised by this but he felt that something like this shouldn't be possible under normal circumstances. His instincts told him to endure the heat produced by fire and let the fire do whatever it wants with Akashi because it was clear as day that it was targeting Akashi's body.
"Jun?!!" Ember worriedly shouted at her husband when she saw this.
"Quiet!" Jun lightly shouted to calm both women down.
The flame enveloped Akashi's body as if it was creating a blanket for him. Akashi, on the other hand, was just sleeping, not knowing about the situation here.
"This?! Haha!" Jun immediately started laughing when he saw this but he immediately realized something and snapped his head at the maid inside the room.
"Get out and don't speak about what you have seen to anyone! Not even if the emperor was to ask you!" She shouted at her while glaring at her with his cold orange eyes.
"Y-yes lord Phoenix!" The maid bowed and quickly run away in fear.
"? What's going on, dear?" Ember calmed down when she saw that Akashi was happily sleeping with no discomfort found on his face while being enveloped by the flames.
"This has never happened before...From what I have heard then even the founder of our family wasn't this abnormal." Jun muttered and then took Akashi away from the fireplace and handed him back to Ember.
"He didn't accept the fire as it's a companion...The fire itself accepted our son as its master. This kind of thing...must stay in secret!" Jun said with a cold expression while glancing out of the window at the palace build in the middle of the town.
'This is really strange...There is no way for my son to be born with already teigu inside him. No...even if he had a teigu...It would be impossible for him to affect how would fire behave while being asleep. Teigu usually wants to take over their users and if they are not parasitic type then they are still dangerous to their own user...Was my son really accepted by fire just like that?' Jun thought with a puzzled expression while looking at his son.
