Chapter 28: Truth: The Origins

N A O M I

We moved the couch to the sides, arranged the pizzas, fries, and drinks on the carpet, and settled down in a circular position. We are seated in a girl-boy alternative arrangement.

We, girls, are wearing onesies, while the boys sported normal pajamas.

"I'll listen," I stated and took a red velvet milk tea.

"Where should we start?" Alexa asked, sporting her red fox onesie. She then took a pizza slice near her and devours it.

"How about our first meeting with the boys?" Nike suggested, her small body wrapped in a rabbit onesie.

Kyousuke, seated on her right side, gave her a winter melon milk tea. His brown pajama has a cute monkey print on it.

"Or should we start with the organization? The Crumenta Daemones," Thea recommended, drinking from her chocolate milk tea, wearing a cute pink unicorn onesie.

Alexa started after finishing her pizza, "Crumenta Daemones is the name of our assassin organization. It was established during our first year of high school. Our purpose was to stop the atrocities in our government."

"The people found out about our organization, so we put some self-made masks, and use cute nicknames. Naomi used Lady Death, Fallen Phoenix for Alexa, Nike chose Small Tiger, Pastel Angel was used by Thea, and Flirty flight was mine," Julia added, then ate a handful of fries. Some even fell on her blue dragon onesie.

Chase is sitting beside her, so he helped her clean up, a small smile on his face. Sporting his green pajama, he looked at Julia with love written all over his face.

"What a coincidence, I'm still using the same nickname even with amnesia," I said with a small chuckle.

"Of course, you only forgot your memories. Even with amnesia, the personality and preferences stay the same," Ares, seated on my left side, claimed in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Oh, right. We also leave a symbol or a stamp on every person we killed. If it's a group mission, we leave a stamp of a demon using the own victim's blood. If it's a solo mission, we leave our own symbols," Julia explained, I nodded in response.

"So, I leave black roses on the corpse? Then, red feathers for Alexa, claw marks for Nike, pink hearts for Thea, and kiss marks for Julia. Am I right?" I said, pointing at each one of them. They all nodded awkwardly in response, and we ended up laughing.

As high school students, we really have weird tastes, until now. Watching them laugh, made my heartache. Don't get me wrong, it's not because they are happy, it's because they probably suffered because of me.

I don't know how exactly we became close, but based on the small gaps in my memories, it seems that it was because of this organization. Oh, how I wish I can remember.

I felt them staring at me as their laughter died down, making my consciousness go back to the present. All of them gave me a worried gaze, and I gave them a questioning look.

That's when I felt my cheeks were wet. I quickly wiped them, but Nike stopped me and hugged me from behind. I didn't even notice that the girls all stood up and went to my side, as the boys made way.

"Stop hiding your weaknesses. You only let us see them once during high school, that it made us think that your bottled up emotions were the reason for your sudden amnesia," Nike whispered, loud enough for everyone to hear. Her words made my tears fall like an endless stream.

"I'm sorry...sorry for forgetting those important memories. Thank you for staying by my side," I whispered to them as they all gave me a hug.

"Alright, stop with the drama already!" Alexa said, breaking the dramatic vibes, as it turned to laughter. I laughed as tears kept flowing out.

Life would be depressing without these girls, I swear I'll protect those precious smiles. Smiling to myself, I patted each of their head. Their reactions were too cute! And there is Alexa, acting like a tsundere, gosh, how adorable!

"How did we even formed the group?" I wondered out loud.

"We became friends as classmates first. Then, I introduced you to Alexa. That's when we formed the organization. Thea and Nike are best friends and are both social butterflies, so they met you, and you guys became close. Then, you invited them to our organization. I remember that a senior of ours was our first trainer. He was an otaku and the president of our anime club. He is also our drinking partner, and he was a professional assassin," Julia explained, munching food from time to time.

"Oh, so we became close because of the drinking sessions?"

They all nodded, and laughter filled the place again. Wish this would last.

"How about my parents? Did you guys already know that I'm adopted?"

"We don't. We are actually shocked about it. Like you, I'm also curious about why your parents always mistreated you and tortured you. The signs were already obvious, but we don't want to jump to conclusions. You and your mom have some facial similarities, but everything else was far from each other. The fact that you have natural white hair, as white as snow, is unique. Only one clan has those traits," Thea said, informing me.

"Oh, that clan that was the richest one overall. At least one branch of the clan is at the top of every country. The main family, being the richest overall, but that family was messed up. The family of the oldest son died in a plane crash, the second son went missing seven years ago, and the only daughter's family was assassinated, except for the son. I forgot the specific details, like the names, though," Alexa said as she went deep into her thoughts.

"Should we tackle how our group meets yours?" Elijah asked, speaking for the first time.

"We are not even a group at that time," Apollo contradicted him, and they started their senseless bickering.

"Enough, enough! Stop that annoying nonsense already! We are here to reminiscence the past, and inform this idiot girl," Ares scolded them, but his last words hit me hard. I gave him a sharp look, and he smirked in reply.

Still glaring at him, I asked, "Who the hell are you calling an idiot?"

"Who else, other than you? You're an idiot for forgetting me!"

"It's not my fault that you're that forgettable!"

"Action speaks louder than words, you always say the opposite. You're saying that I'm forgettable, but you're always watching me, every time you can."

"You're spitting nonsense!"

"Just admit it, stalker."

"I am not a stalker!"

Before Ares replied, Kyousuke already went in between us. "Alright! Stop your bickering, love birds!"

"We are not lovebirds!" We stated at the same time, and I gave him a glare.

"Alright. Just settle down. Time for story-telling."