Chapter 137: Chapter 137 Determination.
"What do you mean?".
Hisako gasps because the situation seems heavy. She starts to wonder what is actually happening, unlike Hina, who can\'t control her feelings. Hisako seems calm outside, but her heart also contains a myriad of questions to ask Hiroshi.
"...Soma, where is he? You and Soma just want to attend the auction event, right? So why is it that you said Soma was gone? Explain to me, Dad?!".
"Hina, wait, I will explain…".
"Where is he right now?".
"Hina!".
Hina\'s body stiffened hearing her mother\'s chilling tone that seemed to freeze the atmosphere itself. Hiroshi, who listened to that, also gulped his saliva, for this was the rare moment that Hisako showed her angry side.
Hisako glanced at her daughter while gesturing with her chin, telling her to sit up for now. Hina clenched both her fist and teeth before swallowing her rage and sat beside her mother while shooting her glare at Hiroshi. Hiroshi, who receives two pairs of glares from his family, sighs.
"...So it was…".
He starts to tell the details about what happened in the auction. The two women in the room listened intently while Hiroshi spoke. Hina, especially, never once blinked and listened to every word her father told. At the same time, keeping her emotions in check.
"...Then on our way home, we are being ambushed…".
Both of the women in the room gasped, hearing Hiroshi and Soma being ambushed on their way home. Then, the story escalated when Hiroshi accidentally activated one of the items Soma obtained from the auction, making an accidental escape and leaving Soma behind. The two women\'s eyes shrunken, and the atmosphere turned heavy.
"...And when I arrived with Mr. Malik for the second time. The place was already crowded for the collapsed bridge. I asked the investigation team there. They couldn\'t find anyone or even the body of Soma".
"...".
"I see".
Hina, who had heard all of the story, could not process the information in the brain. She just sat on the bed unmoving while her mind was being corrupted by negative thoughts. Hisako, on the other hand, still retained her composure and realized that in this accident. Her husband was not to blame for the activation of the relic.
It was just an accident of luck that caused him to lose sight of Soma, and now his whereabouts were unknown.
"..No, no. It\'s a lie. I mean, this noon, we just hung out together, and Soma said he wanted to go to the auction to buy some good equipment. ...No, this has to be a lie. Dad, where is he? I know this is maybe some kind of joke…".
"Hina".
Hisako, who sat beside her daughter, turned her glance to the side, seeing her daughter\'s expression that seemed almost on the brink of breaking. Hina\'s eyes were devoid of light, and she started to utter those incomprehensible words, clinging to something that was not real. Hisako\'s heart shattered seeing her daughter\'s mental state. She couldn\'t imagine how Hina\'s heartfelt right now.
Earlier in the afternoon when, they have a good time as Mother and daughter. Hina told Hisako what happened between them while they went out to the park. It made Hisako happy to see her daughter\'s blossoming smile and her relationship with Soma. But seeing the broken Hina beside her, she couldn\'t help but let tears stream down her cheeks.
"...Dad, please, where is Soma?".
She couldn\'t let this matter go further. So Hisako dragged her daughter into her embrace and tightened her hand that wrapped around her fragile body. Stifling between sobs, Hisako opened her mouth.
"Hina, listen to me!".
"No, nononono…".
Hina, who heard her mother\'s serious tone, started to turn frantic like a child throwing a tantrum. Hina begins to thrash away in her mother\'s embrace, not wanting to hear her mother\'s words further.
Hiroshi, who sat across them, could only bit his lips as he felt powerless as the head of a family. He slowly clenched his fist and brought himself to open his mouth.
"Listen Hina…".
"NO! Soma, where is he?!".
The temperature in the room spiked up and alarmed the two adults. A flickering spark began to dance in the air, creating a brilliant sight that filled the ruined atmosphere. Hisako and Hiroshi, who saw this, started to act fast. Hisako, who was superior in her control of mana, began to spread her influence toward the surrounding area, making the turbulent spark calm down and dissipate into thin air.
However, Hina still didn\'t give up, with tears streaming down her cheeks, knitting her brows while ignoring the throbbing in her brain. She forces her brain to control the surrounding mana to vent her anger to her father.
"Hina!".
Hisako, who couldn\'t let this go any further, raised her voice and jolted the other two bodies, making them halt in their thoughts. Hisako ignored the mood that stilled and brought Hina\'s face toward her shoulder and started to speak softly.
"Listen well, Hina. What your father says was not something you should believe willingly. He said that Soma was missing, but he didn\'t say he was dead, right?".
Hina, who heard her mother\'s words, turned stiff. Hisako saw this as a chance to expand the topic.
"...You know, Soma is one of the survivors of the project red the demon conducted. Then, maybe Soma was just abducted after being beaten up by the demon who ambushed them…".
"But father said, blood trace…".
Hisako tightened her hands that were wrapped around her daughter\'s back. Letting her warmth spread through Hina\'s body, making her boiling heart calm. The streamed tears that flowed down her cheeks halted as the words of her mother managed to calm her distressed heart.
"...Do you believe it?".
"?".
"Do you believe that Soma died?".
Hina\'s face stiffened as she heard a cold voice from her mother. The tears that stopped began to accumulate in the corner of her eyes. Then, it starts to stream down her cheeks as if the dam has broken.
"..Nooo, Hic, …I don\'t want to believe it. Hic, …because, Soma is… …Soma was…".
Hearing the wailing voice from their daughter, Hiroshi, feeling remorse, knits his brows while turning his gaze down. Hisako, who heard Hina crying for the first time since the gate incident, caressed her daughter\'s head dearly.
"...Then Hina, you should hold onto that hope and believe in him, that he was still out there waiting for us to save him".
"...Um".
"Just like you told me that time, You believe in his luck that always brought miracles through your journey inside the gate. So, this time, too, you have to believe in him. Because I, too, believe Soma was still fine out there waiting for us to save him".
Hina, while bawling her eyes out, nodded her head and buried her tear-stricken face to Hisako\'s shoulder, venting out her grief and frustration for Soma, whose whereabouts are unknown.
After emptying the tears in her glands, Hina, who managed to calm down, is currently sitting on the bed while gazing at her own hands that clutched the bed sheet.
"Hina, are you sure you want to be alone?".
Hisako, who sat beside the bed, asked Hina, who was keeping her gaze down on the bed. Hina didn\'t open her mouth and just nodded her head to reply. Hisako turned to her husband, who kept gazing at his daughter, who didn\'t want to make eye contact ever since earlier.
Hiroshi stood up from the bed and approached Hisako, then opened his mouth.
"Hisako, let\'s leave her alone for a while".
"But, Dear…".
"It\'s okay. Hina, if you need anything, let us know".
Hina didn\'t make any movement and just silently looked at the crumpling bed sheet. Seeing her daughter ignoring him made his heart tighten in pain. But he shook his head and dragged Hisako from the room.
Hisako, who saw Hina distancing away from her, bit her lips before she spoke for the last time.
"Hina, as your father said, if you need anything, let us know, Okay!".
This time, hearing Hisako\'s voice, Hina nod her head slightly. Then, after seeing Hina\'s response, Hiroshi could only smile bitterly and sigh, then turned his back along with Hisako leaving the room.
As the two of them leave the room. Silence dawned upon the room, making Hina, who was trapped in the middle of it, start to wander her mind to the earlier story.
Soma\'s disappearance greatly shook her heart, and it almost drove her to the brink of destruction. She didn\'t realize Soma\'s presence had already grown bigger in her heart. But that presence has been taken away from her by the demon that is using him as a guinea pig.
Hina clutched the bed sheet so hard, trying to tear it. As for the first time since she cried. She lifted her gaze, showing an expression that was so eerie and dangerous.
"I will never forgive you, demon!".
Without her knowing, the oath she took in the quiet room on the bed was the same exact line that appeared in the original story Chronicle Saga when she was on the brink of break hearing her parents passed away. She uttered those words as a vow to herself that would give her determination and strength to kill all of the demons who dared to stand in her way.