Chapter 14: Rika 2

After I invited Haruki and his mother in, I finally saw what Mama meant when she said that they're best friends.

Haruki, however, was looking confused. Later he seem to got over that confusion or maybe he just ignored it(?)

After we sat down and saw Mama and Aunty talk to each other. Mama really trusted her best friend a lot.

[A/N: She refers to MC's Mom as Aunty]

People don't just open up to anyone about their pains.

Haruki was silently listening into their conversation. He looked as if thinking about something deeply. But things suddenly changed.

He got upset about something. There was anger screaming through his expressions.

This got me even more intrigued about the red head. Why was he so angry? There was nothing said during the conversation that could make him angry, then why?

I suppressed the urge to ask those questions because I saw that Mama was about to say something.

"You know, Haruki, even though for some reason, I can't sense your emotions, but my experience is enough to tell me that you were extremely angry and sad about something. I would've never called you out, but such emotions should not be suppressed. You can trust us. Well, we don't know each other much, so it's fine if you don't tell us about it. But trust your mom. She's one helluva strong woman. She could deal with a lot even when she was a teenager. She can help you." Mama said.

I was surprised by her first sentence.

She couldn't sense his feelings?! How?? That never happened with her! I was getting more and more curious and just wanted to ask right away, but hearing what she said after that, I decided to suppress it again.

"Haru-chan, you can tell me about it. You can trust them too. What is it?" Aunty asked.

"It's nothing Mom. I just got reminded of Dad." He replied. This time with a sad and pained expression.

That somewhat answered my first question of why he was angry... Not completely, but still did.

I had heard of what happened to his father. He died doing his hero job. It was really sad. I can understand him. He's not much different than me. Atleast in this aspect.

I could feel a little sense of familiarity due to it. I wanted to be friends with him. Although there were some selfish reasons (my curiosity), I still sincerely wanted to be friends with him regardless.

Honestly, I could deal with being lonely, but when I saw that I have a choice here, whether I want to stay lonely or not, I chose the latter.

That, however, has to be after I judge him to be worth being friends with.

I'm not some great person, I know that. All I'm trying here is to make sure he isn't as shallow of a person as my previous 'friends' were. That's why, I needed to check whether he's worth taking that risk or not.

So, I went to him and asked whether he wanted to go for a walk in the park with me. The park is about 20-30 minutes walk from here and judging from how much time is left before dinner, it should be enough to know what I need to know about him.

In the park,

"Ne, Uzumaki-san, Why were you angry back there? I can understand being sad, I really can, but why angry?..... Sorry if I'm being too nosy, I just got too curious. You can ignore that question if it's uncomfortable to answer."

I asked the question that I was suppressing for so long without thinking much. Only to realise that it was too personal of a question to ask someone you just met.

He looked somewhat surprised, then smiled and said,

"It's fine. I know you can understand how much it hurts. We aren't much different in this aspect..." He said while looking downwards.

'See?! He thought so too!'

I thought when I heard him say that. But it seemed that he wasn't done talking, so I focused on what he was about to say.

"But we are different. My father didn't 'die'. He was 'KILLED'! That's a whole level of differences! His killer is still moving free out there! That's where we are different. That's why the anger."

He said with the same but a little toned down anger apparent on his face. But there was something more there. That look of determination. It was the same I saw when father promised me about coming home for my birthday.

That look made me feel admiration for him. But I was also afraid. I've seen in comics how people who seek revenge always ends up becoming evil. Would he become like them? Can I even make sure he doesn't?

'I want to ask so much more, but I'm already being nosy enough. Maybe later, I'd ask him about them.'

It was about time when we were going to leave for home, that's when I saw something that gave me a little confidence that he may not be like them.

When I saw how he instantly went into protective mode when I was about to wake up the little kid in his arms, that look and that gentleness of the life energy coming from him was enough to make me realize he's different.

Later when we were on our way home, the silence was a little different than before. It was comfortable. He was still leaking that gentle life energy from him.

"Uzumaki-san, you said your quirk lets you control certain elements, right? Then is life energy is also considered an element according to your quirk? Because right now you're leaking a lot of it." I asked as I was very curious about this.

"I am? Ah... Sorry about that. No. It's not. But the pure energy before I use any element through it has some similarities to life energy. I have abundance of it. But it changes in nature according to my mood and thoughts. Like if I'm angry, others will feel like energy is aggressive or if I'm sad, it will feel like gloomy like that.

So I had to suppress it so that others don't feel terrified when I'm on guard against them.

When I saw that kid sleeping, I couldn't accept waking her up, so I used the energy and put all my focus on how precious she looked. That made the energy have calm and soothing nature.

What you're feeling right now is remnants of it."

That was a little too long of an answer I expected.

'A quirk geek huh? Cute!' I thought.

Seriously the angry look and the look on his face right now makes it look like he's two different personalities.

When we reached home Aunty asked him to show 'Ell'. I was surprised when I found out that 'Ell' is a life form made by him! Isn't that almost like a god?! Doesn't his quirk just allow him to manipulate certain elements! Was he lying to me?! Although I can understand him not trusting in me since we just met, but I hate that he'd lie to me, he could've simply refuse to answer my question! I didn't like the fact that a person who just admitted to be my friend would lie to me. Why would he need to lie?!

Even so, I held my silence and waited for him to explain. I don't want to lose a friend so quickly. I was afraid that maybe I was wrong about him, I wanted that to be just me overthinking. But if it were to be true, then it will be painful.

Later he explained about how Ell was created by him by mistake. Much to my relief, I found out that he just wanted to show it to all of us together so that he doesn't have to explain it again. Which is, although a little suspicious but a fair enough of a reason.

It gave me a an idea of how I could take my quirk to next level, but I'd need his help in that. I just hope he will be willing to help me.

Now I feel guilty about jumping to conclusions. But hey, atleast I chose to listen to him before taking action. So that should remedy it, right?

After they left,

"So? How was your first date?" Mama asked with teasing tone.

"It wasn't a date! We were just talking." I replied. My face felt a little warm. I was blushing from embarassment.

"That's what you'd do on a date. But seriously, tell me, what did you find about him?" Mama asked a little mocking in her voice at first but then she was serious.

"He's a lot different than others. A lot like..."

I stopped before I could say that he was a lot like Dad. But I realised that could be another reason for me to be teased, so I chose not to do so.

"Anyways, he's worth being friends with. We ARE friends now. So that's that. I am tired, so I'm going to my room. Good night." I said and rushed back to my room.

[ Rika's POV End ]

'Oh my sweet little pumpkin, did you really think I wouldn't know what you didn't say there. Hehe. I hope you two just don't end up hurting each other.' Asuna who was genuinely smiling, thought looking at her daughters back.

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Well that's the end of Rika's POVs. Now, we're gonna be back to the story.

So, I realise I forgot to mention new supporters in the last chapter. Sorry about that.

Thank you,

• tALvaNCH

• DDRBOG

• ZackDKaizo

• Jy_Abcede

• Ali93

• 8TIME8

• LINKyt

• Reigns_Darkness

• Mael_Ali

• LuZe

• FlameDragon345

• Daoist966747

• HeavyChain

• BigFan

• Jai_pareek

for power stones.

By the way the maximum number of power stones once went beyond 70. I'm mentioning this because Oath_Of_A_Knight was 69th power stone.

Childish. I know. But that's only way someone can genuinely feel the fun of being alive.