Side Story #2

#3

"What you're trying to say about the Chimera not being favoured is so strange that even I can't process it." Listening to 001's explanation, Eriu was still confused. The fact that he was a Chimera was the harshest reality he had ever known.

If 'Eriu Grith' could use healing magic when 'he' was stabbed, wouldn't that be proof that he who was in the body of 'Eriu Grith' could also use magic?

For Uniqe's ending, it is still a question mark, maybe the creator of this game put an unfinished route there. The guess is that the Uniqe ending is related to the incarnation of Raphael or the incarnation of Lucifer.

[(╹ -╹)?]

[Haven't I already told you?]

"...That they are just a legend." He thought while holding the eucalyptus in his hand, "Isn't that strange?"

[Tell me, how do Earth people view Chimera?]

"Having three heads, scary... and evil."

[That!]

Eriu put the eucalyptus in the right place, it could be a strange item 001 brought him. 001 wanted to make a door that would create hallucinations, but since it couldn't hold anything and could only take things out of storage, 001 asked for his help.

To be honest, 001 didn't need to ask for his help, he would have done it anyway because he was curious about this door.

It's just a matter of putting the wooden pieces in the right place until it resembles a door, you could say it's a jigsaw puzzle.

"That doesn't explain anything."

[(._.) ( l: ) ( .-. ) ( :l ) (._.)]

After answering him with that emoji, the transparent screen in front of him disappeared. "001?" Eriu shouted again, but there was no response at all. Thinking that 001 was as confused as he was, Eriu was somewhat happy that he could finally make the robot disappear.

He got confused every time 001 got confused. This went on for the 3 years he was with 001. It can be said that 001 is similar to a boy who looks smart on the outside but is empty inside.

Eriu ignored that and continued to put the wood in the right place.

Ting!

[I borrowed your book!] 

"..." Eriu was used to their conversations ending without explanation, as they always did. "Book? Ah, you mean that diary?"

[Yes! (˵ -̀ ᴗ - ˵ ) ✧]

"What for?" Eriu stopped putting up the wood and stared at the screen. [Because I want to!]

Sigh...

Eriu sighed, he already knew it would be like this, "You can borrow the diary as long as you tell me why Chimera is so hated."

[( ｡ •̀ ᴖ •́ ｡) I already told you!]

"This is what you call explaining? Explain it so I understand!"

[But]

"Dot and no comma."

[(˚ ˃̣̣̥⌓˂̣̣̥ ) Evil...]

The situation became silent, the blue transparent screen was blank without any writing while Eriu stared at the screen with his flat face.

The screen turned white in an instant, and after that, one writing after another was seen.

[I don't know much about this world, but what I do know is that the people here consider the Chimera a legend. That's why many people flocked to the north to find out the truth because they saw a man with two heads. This is why it's only a legend until someone tries to create one for themselves, like someone trying to marry someone of a different race, even though sometimes their race is different, the one born is still called mixed compared to the Chimera, because Manna still recognizes them as 'normal' but not Chimera. Also, if the world finds out that you are a real Chimera and not a fake one made of pieces of flesh attached, they will try to catch you, people who are crazy about Chimera will try anything, even make a connection with the Kingdom to make you look like a criminal so they have an excuse to catch you and make you an experiment! Who is this character Belphagor? Belogor? Whoever he is, he is the creation of witches who are crazy about Chimeras and their powers! And actually, the birth of 'Eriu Grith' was impossible, but because of your mother, 'Eriu Grith' was born. Ohh! I spilled the beans!]

With his eyes wide open, Eriu quickly read through all the messages before 001 deleted them all. For the umpteenth time, he wanted to thank his crush, if only she hadn't recommended him to play this bloody romantic game or read the novel she recommended, he most likely wouldn't have been able to finish the message that would disappear in 7 seconds.

"My mom?"

"What does this have to do with her?" Too focused on 001, Eriu Grith did not notice Ariadne staring at him.

Seeing her child talking to the sky made her very uncomfortable, sometimes she wondered why he didn't try to tell her what he was thinking.

Who was he talking to?

Himself or someone else?

Why wasn't he looking at her?

Ariadne stared thoughtfully at Eriu, who had an expression somewhere between speechless and confused before she decided on her destination. Then she left the kitchen and went to her room.

Seeing an old friend is not a bad thing.

[I won't tell you!] 001 refused, causing the screen to disappear from his view.

"...How can I live long if you're so stingy?" Though annoyed, Eriu could only sigh, but what could he do? Hit a screen that can't even be touched?

#4

"Eri, do you want to hear a story?" Quella went to Eriu, who hid all the magic stones he found during the night in his shirt. 

During the time Eriu lived with Quella, he decided not to let Quella know that he was sneaking around every night. He feared that Quella would tell his parents about it. So every night, he would take another bath and hide the magic stone in his dirty clothes so that Quella would think they were just piles of dirty clothes, and then he would ask permission to go back to his house to put his dirty clothes there and hide them.

He didn't want the same thing to happen again. All the magic stones he had collected disappeared in the forest. It felt like everything he had done was for nothing.

"!" Eriu startled, hastily tossing the dirty clothes into a pile of others. Quella paused to stare at the pile of dirty clothes before returning to the original topic, "'Sorry, I forgot to knock."

"Ah... Haha, it's okay," Eriu laughed stiffly, "um, sorry I didn't hear what you said." Quella smiled like a loving grandmother, "Do you want to hear a story?"

Eriu blinked a few times and immediately nodded, "I do!"

Quella laughed at the child's expression that changed so quickly, "Come, let's go into the living room.

" Uhm!" Eriu followed Quella curiously from behind, "What is this story about?"

She walked slowly toward the living room, her voice full of calm, "The kingdom that fell under the thunder of judgment and the cave of sinners."

"It's about a forgotten god and his follower, the nameless woman."

Just hearing that made him curious, "A forgotten god? Who?" 

"The god of this village, of course."

"Ramiel."

#5

A woman smiled at the baby in her arms, the sight of her baby made her want to cry.

"Congratulations on becoming a mother." The nurse who was in charge of the birth was happy to see this little happiness. Of course, it was beautiful for her to see a baby and a smiling mother because she felt that happiness as well.

"Thank you." The woman smiled at the nurse, "In return, I will give you some advice so that the harvest will not fail."

The nurse chuckled, "I'll listen."

The woman was found by the villagers lying limp in the woods with her womb in her arms, the broken alcohol bottles scattered everywhere had let the villagers know that the culprit was the husband.

They were a couple who came with the merchants and tried to live in this small village, although they were rejected at first, but gradually their presence was accepted. The husband was an alcoholic, and when the villagers saw this, they felt sorry for the woman, but they weren't sure if they should help her.

They were afraid of making a mistake and ruining someone's relationship, especially since they had only seen the husband drink, not beat.

It was a miracle that the womb and the woman were still alive...

Compared to her, who was blessed with a son and a loving husband, this woman was stronger than her. 

"Tell your husband to use fertilizer filled with water magic stones, because water magic stones have fertilizing and healing properties." Hearing the woman's advice made the nurse miss her children and husband.

After she finished her work, she went to visit her son and husband in the fields.

The room was filled with the warmth and laughter of those who were mothers.

One turns a new page and one closes the page.

#6

Eros touched his wounded head, and the children around him laughed and insulted him.

An impure child.

To be honest, he really hated children like that, but he was too lazy to react, if he could ignore them, he would choose to ignore them. If he confronted them, they would become violent and if caught, the adults would just dismiss it as child's play.

"HEY!" An old woman's voice rang out, the children who had been surrounding Eros and laughing at him were startled and tried to run away, but a book appeared and fell right on top of the children's heads.

Quella went over to Eros and grabbed a clean cloth to clean the wound on his head, "Grandma, is Eri still with you?" Eros' voice, which usually sounded sweet and full of joy, became very hollow.

Behind them, the books formed a small circle and locked all the children in place, of course, to prevent them from running away and they had gone too far.

"Do you want to meet him?" Quella asked.

Eriu had been brooding lately, not moving from his seat and the boy's gaze was very empty. Almost every day, Eriu visited her house, she asked why he often ran away from home and the answer was that boy, Eros. She didn't know what happened, but she knew that their relationship was very bad.

"Eng, no, I just want to know where he is." 

"..."

"Grandma, can I ask you something?" The pink eyes were empty without any light, "Let Eri stay with you for a week, I'll tell his parents and don't tell Eri about this either..."

"Can you?"

"... Alright, but let's heal your wounds first."

After that, the children who had bullied Eros were scolded by Quella. Reliun, the village chief, decided to punish them for one hour in the empty church. Louise did not accept this, so he and Ariadne decided to catch the children and take them to the forest.

In each house, the bullied children received a gift, an orbital eye.

Eros himself wrote a letter to be given to the father of one of the children who had bullied him.

The content of the letter was about their whereabouts.

One of them had a family, so it was better to give the letter to him than to those who were polluting the river with poison.

He had no idea if they would take action or ignore it.

And he didn't care either, as long as they were playing with fate, they could never go back.

That night Eros could not sleep, but his eyes were closed, it felt as if all his life energy was being sucked out of the world. If only he hadn't told him that everything he was experiencing was a hallucination.

If only he had listened to him more.

The mistakes he made over and over again, his worry and concern for this person became so excessive that he ended up being very bad.

Tak, tak.

'Who?' A confused Eros opened his eyes, but when the door slowly opened, Eros closed them again. Probably Ariadne or Louise who had come to visit him.

"Hiks, hiks, my child has grown up..."

"...Pftt." Louise stood in the living room laughing at Ariadne's words while Ariadne cried bitterly with her orbital eye still in her hand, she was tired of seeing these ignorant children crying in the middle of the forest, all these children could do was cry, and blame the victim and sleep.

They never tried to see their mistakes.

Of course, their parents went into the forest to look for their children, but they never said that those children were dumped in the forest near this village.

'...' The tiny hand carefully touched the bandage covering the wound on his head, as if to make sure he was asleep, the person waved his hand in front of his face. After making sure, the person attached something to the bandage before placing the small box on the table.

The person walked out of the room very slowly, closing the door very carefully so that no sound could be heard.

....

Eros immediately opened his eyes, stood up and tried to look at the contents of the small box. His eyes sparkled and all his energy returned to his body. 

"Candies." Eros' eyes slowly watered, Eros put the small box back on the table and went to look at the mirror, he wanted to know what was attached to the bandage. He really wanted to see it.

Louise who heard the sound of footsteps could only surrender, "... why not talk to him?"

"?" Eriu tilted his head. The reason he was here was because Quella told him that Eros was injured. He felt guilty, he was usually the one who chased away the bullies. Eriu knew why Eros insisted that it was all a hallucination, he was just worried about him. Besides, Eros often helped him when he was in trouble, and he felt immature for turning against a child who cared about him.

"Eros still awake." Louise told him flatly, immediately the door of the room opened and the sound of running down the stairs could be heard. 

"!" Eriu's body shuddered in fear, but before he could get out and return with Quella, Louise grabbed his shoulders and held him, "Mom's taking grandma home, you'd better sleep here tonight."

"!!"

The sound of crying was heard, "Huuuu, hikss..."

"!!!" 

Eriu's whole body became so stiff that he didn't even dare to turn his head. Eros went over to Eriu and hugged him from behind, "Huu, thank you... hikss..."

"..." 

Louise patted Eriu's shoulder as if by telepathy, Eriu already understood Louise's intention. 

I'll handle it as an adult!

Eriu managed to convince himself and turned his body around before he saw Eros' face and immediately hugged him, "No, it's okay, everything will be fine." Because he was too embarrassed and confused, he didn't care what came out of her mouth.

As long as it was a reassuring phrase, everything would be fine!

Ariadne returned, a little confused by the situation in her house.

"Save me!" Eriu ran around Louise with Eros chasing after him. Eros continued to run after him before changing his tactics, leaving Eriu surprised that Eros had ambushed him.

Louise stood still, not knowing how to get out of this difficult situation.

Eros immediately pulled Eriu, "I want to sleep with mom and dad, let me go!"

"Ahhh!" 

Eros just kept quiet and pulled Eriu into the upstairs room and immediately the atmosphere in the living room was silent.

".... I'm home." Ariadne closed the door and walked over to Louise as she tapped him on the shoulder, "Did something happen?" Confused by Louise's sudden silence, Ariadne checked on Louise.

"Honey, I'm sorry..." Louise said in a quiet voice. "..." Ariadne suddenly had a bad feeling, she turned her head and looked around.

"..."

"..."

Ariadne's hands were clenched very tightly, but before she called Eriu and Eros to come down, Ariadne took a breath and calmed herself. The orbital eye she had bought by selling one of her favourite swords broke.

A week later, the two were summoned by Ariadne and severely scolded. As a punishment, Eros washed the dishes every night and Eriu helped Louise check the herbs.

.

.

.

"It hurts, it hurts!" Eriu tried to free himself from Eros' grip, even though he screamed like a desperate person, Eros still held him. 

"Just hold on a little longer, okay? Just a little bit longer..."

"Ahh! Wait, ughh..." Eriu whimpered as the germicidal potion was poured directly onto his hand. He had received this wound during his training with Eros, he had lost because he had underestimated him. It was even more frightening that he could see the bone in his wound. Since Ariadne and Louise were observing outside, they weren't around when this happened. 

Even though he had been so unlucky to see a gun in his previous life, he was still afraid of it. He would continue to normalize the normal in his life.

Eros looked at the wound on his hand with a very guilty expression, even his face was very pale compared to Eriu, the injured person, "Sorry... if only I had been more careful, you wouldn't have gotten hurt."

"It's nothing, it was me who was careless... Aw!"

Eros wrapped his hand with a bandage, but Eros still held his hand, "?" At that moment, Eros reached into his pants pocket and took out a plaster with a drawing of a cat on it. With a puzzled look, Eriu saw Eros put the plaster on his hand.

"Is the pain gone?" He asked with a guilty smile. For some reason, he thought Eros would be sad if he said the pain was still the same.

"Yes!" His heart suddenly skipped a beat at the sight of Eros.

He felt déjà vu all over again.

"Oh, uhh, I'll put the equipment..." His heart could not bear to be here any longer. Before Eriu could get up, Eros stopped him, "Wait a moment."

"?"

"I have to tell you something." Eriu frowned a little doubtfully. "What is it?" 

"Come a little closer, it is a secret." Seeing Eros with his usual expression and looking normal, he could do nothing but come closer.

He was curious.

Chuu.

Eros immediately kissed his cheek without him noticing that Eros was already holding his hand, which made it impossible for him to get away from there.

"-!" 

Eros chuckled, the sound of his laughter full of happiness as he looked at Eriu who was blushing like a tomato, the wind blowing and the sky full of colors, "Thank you."