Tale of Our Love // Pucca

Chapter 5

There he was. The boy she had been longing to meet. The boy who she thought never knew she existed. The boy who she felt a strong connection to. The boy she had sworn to protect for the rest of his life. Garu Akahato was greeting her shyly...

"You don't need to call me Pucca-chan." She said. "I don't need to call you Garu-oppa either. We're close, aren't we?"

"C-Close?" Garu questioned her. "But we just met, didn't we? Um... I'm sorry...I mean... ah... nn..."

"We just met, but we're already as close as siblings! That's Sooga Village for you!"

"Y-Y-Yeah! I... guess so..."

Oh, my gosh. He's so adorable!, Pucca thought. I want to take him home with me!

He will learn to get over his shyness eventually, but Pucca found the need to treasure his adorable side while he was still showing it. If it took him all the time in the world just to express his feelings, she'd give him all the time he needed.

Why would the demons and the Devil try to capture such a sweet and innocent boy? In the worst case scenario, they'll be able to grab hold of him. Pucca must try to avoid that.

"P-Pucca?"

Pucca looked at the owner of the voice, who was Garu himself. He was looking at her as if he just made a mistake, but didn't know what it was or why it happened. What? Did she do something wrong? Wearing the kindest smile she could manage, Pucca asked Garu a question.

"What's wrong, Garu?"

"D-Did I, um... did I do something wrong? You're looking really... serious. I... I don't mean that in a bad way! It's just that, if I did something wrong, I'd like to... know about it, you know? And perhaps... make up for it?"

"What do you mean I... oh..."

Pucca was having absolutely serious thoughts about how the demons and that Devil wanted to have Garu in their grasp. That made her wear a serious face, thus confusing Garu himself. She had to let him know that it wasn't her intention.

"No, I just had a slight memory of the past." Pucca responded. "When I came to Sooga Village, I can't remember anything about what happened beforehand. Jae-geun-oppa says that it's probably dissociative amnesia, but I'm not so sure what that is."

"W-Wait, you can't remember anything about your past?"

Not only Garu, but everyone else in the room was shocked. Pucca was lying, but that wasn't obvious to their eyes. They all began to believe in her story, making her start to think that she may be an expert at lying. But at the same time, she didn't like doing it.

Master Soo always told her that lying wasn't good, but she had no other choice in the matter. She heard that these are called "white lies" in the human world. Just like how Jae-geun did, everyone believed in her lies. But Pucca didn't feel too happy about that.

"The first thing I knew was that I awakened at this shrine-like place, and I was injured..." Pucca continued. "Then Jae-geun-oppa came to save me. I'm currently staying with him... Strangely enough, I can still remember my name, my birthday, and my age... but other than that, I can't remember anything else."

"I see, that's unfortunate." Daisuke said. "Don't worry, we'll help you get your memory back eventually."

"Thank you." Pucca responded. You can't do that. Because everything I am saying to you is all a lie.

If Pucca didn't need to hide her true identity as a goddess, she would've said to them that she was Brise from the very beginning. However, it was a taboo for a goddess to expose her true identity to humans. Pucca has never seen a goddess do that before, but she was nervous. Master Soo said that there would be a punishment to those who commit a taboo.