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epilogue
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Hayami exhaled a breath of air as her eyelids fluttered open, wandering across the familiar room she was in. She would have wondered where she was if she hadn't remembered the room all too well. She was back home. Not the home she had in the butterfly mansion, but the small, rustic home she had on the outskirts of the red-light district.
She heard a faint knock behind the sliding doors before they slid open. Hayami's mouth fell open as her eyes locked on the figure that stood in front of her room. Anyone would have resented their father if he had treated them the way her father treated her. But one thing about Hayami was that she had an open heart. She knew all the reasons why her father chose to continue the time he had become a demon. Hayami stood up on her two feet before running to embrace her father.
Hayami forgot what it felt like to give him a hug since she had lost him at such a young age. She was already overwhelmed with emotion, but the moment her father returned her embrace the growing tears started to run down. She missed whatever she had left of him, and she wished life would have played out differently.
"Father, I missed you" She sobbed out into his chest.
Her own father couldn't bear hearing his own daughter cry. He had done things that had hurt her, and he had no excuse for doing so. He wondered just how kind the Gods were to have given him time to embrace his loving daughter.
"I'm sorry, Hayami" He whispered before kissing the top of his daughter's head and ending their embrace. He looked down at her face, she had grown up to look exactly like her mother.
The girl in question leaned into her father's touch, "I did it Father, I avenged Mother for you. For us" She muttered as she felt her father wipe away the tear stains on her cheek.
"Did you now?" Hayami heard a feminine voice speak out beside her.
As she turned her head to the right, it was like looking at a mirror. There the woman stood before her, the mother whom she had never really known before. She really did look like her mother, from her ginger hair to her ocean-blue eyes. She was beautiful.
"Mother.." Hayami whispered, her breath shaky in disbelief. She heard her father whisper her mother's name, he too was surprised to see his dear wife in front of him. Hayami thought she probably was dead now, seeing her own mother in front of her.
"Kenji, I'm sorry I left you too soon," Her mother said, her smile was one that Hayami wished she could imprint in her mind to remember for a lifetime.
She watched as her father left her side and embraced her mother in his arms, "I'm sorry I wasn't there to protect you, Himari." He spoke teary-eyed as his forehead pressed against her own.
Hayami had never been happier, seeing her two parents reunite with one another. She felt as if she had fulfilled all her goals.
"Hayami" Her ears perked up at the sound of her mother calling her name, "welcome home," Her mother said. She walked towards the couple before falling into their embrace. It felt almost dream-like to have this moment. Hayami cried, she was finally home with both her parents. No demons, no weapons, no fighting. Just the three of them, in a place they called home.
