Chapter 39- New Exhibit

After leaving the Temple, Kotone had chosen to go to Tokyo's National Museum.

According to her, there would be an unveiling of a new exhibit in their Ancient Civilizations section of the museum.

Acheron has never visited a museum in his long life, there was never a need to, because he either lived during that period of time or has real artifacts in much better conditions than the once found in museums.

They reached the museum, they bought the tickets and walked around first before the unveiling.

The unveiling wasn't scheduled until 1430 (2:30 pm) so they still had another 30 minutes before then.

While looking around the 4 girls lost track of Acheron, Rose was panicking, an unsupervised Acheron is a dangerous Acheron, she blamed herself for getting distracted.

"We need to find him right now!" Rose exclaimed,

The girls didn't know why she was panicking so much, but they agreed and so, they split up in looking for him.

Akeno had been looking for 10 minutes before she found Acheron in the Ancient Greece Exhibit.

"I finally found you Acheron, Rose is very worried about you…" Akeno said,

Acheron didn't respond, he just kept looking at a statue of a woman.

Akeno looked at the description underneath the statue, it read,

"Helen of Sparta; Most beautiful woman in the world, disappeared during Battle of Troy."

"It does her no justice, you know?" Acheron said, without once taking his eyes off the statue,

"What?" Akeno asks confused,

"Her statue... she was even more beautiful in person.." Acheron said,

'what is he talking about? How can he know that?' Akeno thought,

"Well, what about this one!... um… Herakles?..." Akeno said,

"The fact they have his statue next to hers is pissing me off!" Acheron said with a little anger in his voice,

'What is going on with Acheron? Why are statues of people that lived thousands of years ago bothering him?' Akeno thought,

"He was nothing but an asshole who wanted to steal other people's wives" Acheron said,

"oookaayy…" Akeno said,

'he must have lost his mind after one all those fights yesterday…' she thought

"Acheron! (Acheron-sama!)"

The 3 other girls had appeared behind them,

Rose was a little pissed off that Akeno had spent who knows how long alone with Acheron.

"Come on! We are going to miss the unveiling of the new exhibit!" Kotone said, her face didn't show the urgency that was heard from her voice.

As they followed Kotone out of the Ancient Greece exhibit Sakura asked,

"So, what is this new exhibit about?"

"I don't know but from what I heard they uncovered something really old, one of the oldest pieces they have" Kotone said,

When they got there, it was pretty desolate, barely anyone was there, at most 10 people.

There was a big podium with some curtains pulled over it, hiding whatever what was behind them,

The pulled up just as the curator was ready to do the unveiling,

"Ladies and Gentlemen, today we found a piece of ancient history belonging to the times of the first Pharaoh of Ancient Egypt…. Behold! The face of an Ancient God!"

*gasp*

All 4 girls gasped at the mural that stood in front of them,

"Doesn't that look a lot like…." Kotone said,

"Impossible!" Rose exclaimed,

Rose was the most surprised out of all the girls, on the mural, alongside a long series of Hieroglyphics there was a face, a face resembling one that was standing there at that very moment in the audience.

Rose knew Acheron was old, but at most, the family thought he was as old as the Family Tree, now with this, it puts Acheron's age thousands of years before they initially thought.

While the girls looked back and forth between him and the mural, Acheron seemed unperturbed.

As he looked at the mural with his face on it, he couldn't help but think of the past and the hieroglyphs tattooed on his body.

The presenter continued to introduce the mural,

"This mural is estimated to be from 3150 BCE and depicts a certain 'god' who, legends say, brought havoc to Egypt, there are even legends that say that this 'god' even slept with the first Pharaoh's Queen multiple times, having her become the first Queen to lay with a 'god'"

Rose couldn't believe her ears,

'What happened to the perfect romance story between him and Helen? Where there more before her?' she thought,

"The name of this 'god' is…." The presenter continued,

Acheron finished it before the presenter did, it caught everyone nearby off guard,

"Apep; God of Evil, Darkness, and Destruction"

For some reason, the girls felt that Acheron's mood seemed to become more and more melancholic the longer they spent here, especially after the reveal of the mural.

They didn't know why he was sad; it shouldn't be because he looks like the guy on the mural, that was just a coincidence, wasn't it?

Acheron seemed to know who it was before it was even explained, but it matters not, it's time to cheer him up.

"Let's go get something to eat! I hear there's some restaurants nearby and a park!" Sakura said,

They all agreed while looking at Acheron, he still seemed lost in his thoughts,

Rose just followed behind Acheron, typing away at her phone, most likely to another member of the family.

On the way to a restaurant, all 4 girls trailed behind Acheron whispering to each other,

"Do you know what happened to him?" Akeno asks,

"No, as far as I know, this is Acheron-sama's first time in a museum" Rose said,

"Why does looking at his back does he seem so lonely?" Kotone said,

Rose might have an idea why, especially since they found him in the Ancient Greece section, staring at Helen of Sparta statue.

Suddenly, they notice Acheron stop in front of them, he looked towards his far right at an old lady around 85 years old sitting on the sidewalk playing a zither,

She had a sign posted next to her saying,

"Granddaughter in need of expensive surgery, any money will help"

"Rose," Acheron said,

"Yes Acheron-sama? Would you like to donate money to her?" asked Rose,

"No, find me a zither" Acheron said,

"Of course," Rose said,

She noticed a store that sells musical instruments nearby and rushed towards it,

Acheron on the other hand walked towards the old lady, he walked up to her and said,

"Hey Grandma! How about you take a break and I will play for you?" Acheron said,

The old lady was surprised, not just for someone to talk to her, but to talk to her in Mandarin,

"Can you play young man?" the old lady asked,

"Just enough to give you a break, grandma" Answered Acheron with a smile,

At that moment, Rose had walked up from behind Acheron carrying a brand-new zither, she handed to him and backed away,

The girls just stood with Rose and watched on as he set up the zither next to the old lady and prepared to play.

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