CHAPTER 62: 62 - RAVEN’S PAST [4]—REUNION

Raven saw a little girl.

She had black eyes and hair like him, though her eyes looked soft and her cheeks were slightly chubby, making her cute.

The little girl was so small that her height could barely reach Raven’s waist.

Then, at that moment—

"...!"

A sudden torrent of memories entered Raven’s head again!

Though this time, he didn’t feel any pain... But instead—he felt warm and comfortable.

"Nisha..."

A name unconsciously came out from his mouth.

And after that—

"Brother!"

The little girl, Nisha, ran toward Raven.

Raven didn’t particularly like or hate children, but he felt a special feeling for Nisha after recovering ’his’ memories.

It was love for his little sister, and a desire to protect her from any danger.

As a matter of fact, ’Raven’ destroyed Prem and the others in the past to protect Nisha from them, as they were a possible future danger for her.

Anyway... Seeing Nisha running at him with open arms—Raven crouched down and widely opened his arms to receive her embrace.

Nisha hugged him tightly, and he hugged her back.

Raven then stood up, lifting her gently.

"Brother! You’re back!"

Nisha exclaimed as she hugged Raven.

Raven, who is also Cole, didn’t know what to do.

’Is this okay? The Raven Nisha knows... isn’t exactly me.’

His mind became complicated.

But just seconds after—he shook his head, removing such thoughts. Then he just smiled awkwardly at her.

"Yeah... I’m back."

He muttered.

"Did you wait for me?"

Raven followed a question.

"Mhm..."

Nisha, who had her head buried in Raven’s shoulder, just weakly nodded as a response.

"Did you wait long?"

Raven asked her again.

"Uhm..."

And Nisha replied the same way as before.

Raven smiled bitterly.

In [Raven]’s memory, he had left home after spending Christmas with his family... Five months prior to him attending Lunar.

He left early to get himself ready and used to living in such big cities.

So Nisha didn’t see Raven in person for five months—they just saw each other in video chats.

But this past month, when Raven recovered his memories as ’Cole’, he avoided having video calls with his family as he didn’t know how to act towards them. The best he could do was to converse with them in a call—and only for an hour.

Raven felt his shoulder, where Nisha had her head buried, getting slightly wet.

But he didn’t say a word about it and just patted Nisha on the head.

"Sorry, I made you wait... and thanks for waiting."

Raven whispered to her.

"..."

Nisha didn’t respond and just tightened her embrace on Raven even more.

Click—

It was then, the door behind Raven opened.

He looked back... And saw two figures standing in the door.

And just like Nisha before, they were showing surprised expressions while looking at him.

One of the two figures was a woman. She looked like Nisha in her mid-20s, but she had white hair.

She was so gorgeous that even models would get jealous of her appearance and her body, perfectly balanced with beautiful curves in the right places!

While the other figure was a man. He had sharp eyes like Raven. He was fairly handsome and looked manly as hell—not like Raven, who was average before he gained his memories as Cole. The man looked like he was in his early 30s.

His body was well-built as if he didn’t miss a single day of working out, and he gave off an aura of someone responsible.

Seeing them like that, Raven smiled and waved at them.

Then opening his mouth—

"Mom, Dad... I’m home."

He muttered that.

The reason Raven came to Idya City—it was for this.

To meet his family.

*****

(Raven’s POV)

"Do you want something to eat?"

"Did something bad happen to you in the academy?"

"Are you okay?"

Elaine Obadiah, my mom, started bombarding me with questions as soon as she saw me.

She was checking my whole body to see if I had any kind of wound or injury.

I couldn’t avoid her as I was carrying Nisha.

"Let him in first, Elaine."

Fortunately, my dad, Alfred Obadiah, stopped mom.

"Ah..."

My mom looked sorry after being stopped by father.

"Sorry, I bothered you."

Then she apologized!

"...!"

I shook my head vigorously and immediately opened my mouth.

"It’s okay, it actually feels nice seeing mom worry about me."

I was embarrassed after saying that—I almost frowned.

’Ugh...’

I grumbled internally. I also noted that no one in my class should know about this. Especially Blake.

Then I saw mom’s face—she was smiling ear to ear and just staring at me silently.

"L-let’s go inside!"

Seeing her staring at me like that, I didn’t know how to react so I rushed them to enter the house.

"Yeah, let’s go."

Dad then agreed. I looked at him with grateful eyes.

He then smiled and winked at me.

’He’s reading me like a book.’

Can he perhaps—read people’s minds?!

"Okay, let me carry Nisha."

My mom then approached me to get Nisha, but...

"No!"

Nisha shouted when she heard Mom’s voice and clung to me tighter.

"Nisha..."

Mom looked like she was gonna scold her.

"It’s okay, Mom."

But I stopped her. Mom looked at me worriedly, but I ignored that.

Nisha then raised her head and looked at me.

With a smile, I spoke to her.

"You can cling to me as long as you want."

Her face brightened up after hearing that from me.

"Then I’ll do so!"

She exclaimed and hugged me tighter.

She’s such a sweet child.

*****

Fast forward a bit—

I’m currently cooking our lunch in the kitchen... I volunteered to do so.

I’m also piggybacking Nisha as she still doesn’t want to separate from me.

"It smells good!"

Nisha exclaimed.

"Just wait, it will also taste good."

Then I declared confidently.

"Yeah, I can’t wait!"

Her pure and honest attitude made me want to protect her more.

"Sorry for making you cook..."

Then, what appeared at my side was my mom with a rather sorry expression.

I looked at her and smiled.

"I insisted to do this, so don’t be sorry."

I tried to reassure her, but Mom’s expression didn’t change. It was a bit awkward.

"Mom, can you prepare the table?"

"...Sure."

Just when I requested that her face calmed down and she started preparing the table.

Looks like she just wanted to help me after all.

...

...

I finished cooking not long after Mom set the table.

I placed the dishes I made on the table.

I cooked a stewed Siber Beast and a pan-fried Storm Hawk.

I bought monster and beast meats from shops on my way here.

Their meats contain a lot of mana, making them tastier and even helping you replenish your stamina and mana faster.

Fwip—

I sat in one of the chairs, opposite from Mom and Dad who were sitting side by side. Nisha then got down from my back and sat beside me.

She was looking at me and the food on the table back and forth with eager eyes.

Mom and Dad saw that and smiled. I also smiled. Then a cozy atmosphere was created around us.

At that moment, Dad opened his mouth.

"Let’s eat."

He said.

’He doesn’t talk too much, but he’s considerate, huh.’

I thought. Then I voiced my agreement to Dad.

"Yeah, the food will get cold so let’s eat."

I got Nisha and myself our portion while Mom and Dad got theirs.

Nisha then took a bite from her food as soon as I placed her food in front of her.

"!!!"

Her eyes widened and her head snapped in my direction.

"Ish... sho goosh!"

She clumsily exclaimed with her cheeks stuffed. It made me chuckle seeing her reaction.

"Don’t talk with food in your mouth, Nisha."

"Mom’s right."

Mom scolded her, and Dad agreed. Nisha then apologized.

"Sorry."

"It’s fine, just don’t do it again."

Mom said.

Then Dad nodded his head, agreeing with her again.

"You will understand me after you take a bite from Brother’s cooking..."

Nisha, who felt wronged, pouted and took another bite. The way she munched while eating was so adorable.

Mom and Dad got curious about how my cooking tasted after hearing Nisha’s words. It was understandable, as based on the memories I received earlier, this little kid is a picky eater.

The two of them grabbed their spoons and took a bite from the pan-fried Storm Hawk I made.

"...!"

"..."

And just like Nisha—their eyes widened and they looked at me with surprised expressions.

"I tolsh yoo guysh... Nom... nom... nom..."

Nisha said proudly, with both of her cheeks swelling as her mouth was full of food.

"It’s good, really..."

Mom muttered as she took another bite.

"Why are you so good at cooking? I didn’t see you cook even once before."

Dad asked, squinting his eyes. He was forcing me to answer.

I smiled awkwardly.

"Well... This and that happened..."

I answered and started to eat to avoid his gaze.

Dad and Mom didn’t pry after that and just started eating with satisfied expressions on their faces.

The same went for Nisha.

"..."

Looking at them... I felt weirdly happy and satisfied.

’Family, huh...’

I didn’t know what I would feel when I met Raven’s—or my—family before, so I was pretty anxious about it.

"It’s not a bad feeling."

I mumbled to myself and continued to eat.