A Tale of Us | SasaMiya

7. We Will Always Have Each Other

A/N: Day 7: Free Day : Promise
IMPORTANT A/N AT THE BOTTOM!

.𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟.

7. We Will Always Have Each Other

.𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟.

I was on a mission now.

"The magic belongs to your parents."

I was finally going to find them.

"This will lead you to them. They're somewhere nearby on one of the islands."

I would be reunited with them at last.

"Good luck."

Shuumei was by my side the whole way. From the time we met up with Hanzawa and was told about the tracker, to now in the ocean. We had to swim there, it would be easier and faster than a boat ride.

"I wonder what they've been doing this whole time!" I was excited. This whole time, I was unable to keep the joy away. The fond memories had been flooding back to me bit by bit. I wondered if it was because I was getting closer to them.

Shuumei had been oddly quiet, content with listening as I rambled on. I supposed he didn't have much to say on the matter.

"I've been remembering more about them, isn't that strange?" I laughed. "One time I got stuck in a cave and my dad rescued me—I remember now how scary it was, but then he came in and found me! There was also a time where he defended me against a tiger shark and taught me how to get away from them." I paused at the memories. "We even went to the surface a lot—my mom really liked this one town, and it's still really fuzzy, but I think I even played with a human kid?"

I really tried to remember the human's face, but it was still blocked for me. They were the one I remembered being the closest to. "Even though I can't remember what they looked like, I remember them being really cool and nice. We played together despite being different species, he..." I sucked in a startling breath as I remembered it was a boy. "He was my first friend, my best friend."

It was quiet as I followed the light displayed from the tracker. It looked like a compass, and the string of light pointed me in the right direction. We made it to a small island a little ways away from the mainland. It had a small forest, and the light was pointing to something beyond the woods.

We changed into our human forms and walked up the beach. "Wow, maybe they like to live here, away from everybody?" I bounced on my toes from the excitement. Would they recognize me?

"Hey." Shuumei's sudden low tone distracted me enough to look back at him. His face was downcast, matching the grey clouds above. "Whatever we find, just know... Just know that I'm here for you, okay?"

He finally looked at me, and his expression was heartbroken. Those normally bright, light eyes were as dark as the growing clouds above.

"What... What do you mean?" I cast a look back at the woods where the tracker was leading me. "They're here, right? Sure, they might not recognize me at first since it's been so long, but they wouldn't... they wouldn't forget me, right?"

I looked back at him, and his eyes swam with that look again. That look from before, at his cabin, where he just wanted to hold me close. Protect me from some kind of truth he didn't want me to face yet.

No.

"Shuumei? What do you know?"

He gulped visibly, looking distraught. "I... I know what happened to your parents. I was there. They made me promise... promise that I would look after you whenever you returned here." He stared at me, pleading with me to understand something that I just couldn't. "Yoshikazu, I'm so sorry. I wanted to tell you the truth, but I... I just couldn't. I don't ever want to cause you grief, to be the one to hurt you."