"One creates oneself. Time changes oneself. The best self will come out victorious." - Aiko

“Shizuka, I said, who is Kasai?” She kept quiet. She kept avoiding eye contact and making a sorrowful expression.

“Rukito… I don’t think telling you right now is a good idea.” I took out my golden necklace locket that showed a picture of both of that girl and I then said,

“Is it her? Is she Kasai?” Judging from the fact that she didn’t want to kiss me, Kasai wasn’t my sister, she was my lover. Shizuka gasped and said,

“Y-yes… it’s her.”

“Can you please tell me what happened? You were there, right?”

“Fine…” She looked up at me and said, “Call Nightshade over, I’m going to need her singularity to calm you down in case anything happens.” What if I end up hurting everyone like I once did? No… I won’t allow that to happen, especially since Nightshade will be with me in the same room.

“Alright,” I called Nightshade and gave her the address. After she arrived, Shizuka looked at her and said,

“Good afternoon, Nightshade. I haven’t seen you in a while.”

“Oh, I remember you now, you were the one that lead the raid of Ochiru’s island.”

“I’m surprised you still remember; Pixies have a bad memory when they leave their tree for too long.” Right, I keep forgetting to tell her about her past, I’d have to tell her after I recover my memories. But wait, if Shizuka can recover my memories, can’t she recover Nightshade’s memory too?

“Shizuka, can you recover her memory too?”

“Hmm, probably not. Using this spell consumes a lot of energy from me, so I’d have to give Nightshade her memories back tomorrow.” Yeah, I’m relying on her way too much.

“Oh, ok.”

“Well, let’s begin. Nightshade, I’m going to need you to play some calming music while Rukito gets his memories back, ok?”

“Will he be alright?”

“He’s going to be fine.” Shizuka knows that there is a high chance that this might not go well.

“If you say so.” Nightshade looked worried, but she was prepared to do what she needed to do.

“Sit down on that sofa.” Said Shizuka. I sat down and took a deep breath. What will happen to me?

“Rukito… If anything happens, just know that I-” I looked at Shizuka and said,

“I’ll be fine.”

“Alright, close your eyes, relax, this might take a while.”

“Ok.” Nightshade started playing her harp, and Shizuka grabbed a spellbook that she had on a shelf. She opened it, started whispering some words and my consciousness started drifting away more and more. I had no idea of what happened in that room, but in my head, I started gaining all my memories. When I first met Shizuka, my adoptive parents. Kasai, Misaki, Yumi, and my master… Hachimura, he was more of a father to me than any. The beginning of the apocalypse, when all of them except Shizuka died. Sachi… killed them all. No! It was Ochiru, she took control of Sachi without her permission.

Kasai… she was the love of my life, killed by Ochiru. I CAN’T FORGIVE HER!

“Hey, calm down buddy.” Said a voice behind me patting me on the back. It was a younger version of myself, it was the me when I first met Sachi in the orphanage, the human me. Everything around me was black, I couldn’t see a thing but myself.

“Huh?”

“Do I really grow into someone with anger issues? I now hope to stay this age.”

“Yeah, and you can’t forget your main goal.” Said another version of myself appearing beside me.

“W-what?” It was me one year ago when I was with Kasai, the half-devil me.

“Just because Kasai is gone, it doesn’t mean that you don’t have other people to take care of.”

“You know more than anyone of how much you love her!” I told the half-devil.

“Yeah… but your initial goal was to live a normal life, and that is not possible anymore. So… what do you want to do now?” The younger version of myself smirked and said,

“I just want to have fun. Nothing much on my side, but think of yourself, old me. You had three different personalities throughout your lifetime.”

“It’s time to find out which one is your real one.”

“But we’re not going to force it upon you, it’s up to you to choose if you want to keep living as a playful and happy human.” Said the younger me.

“A cool-headed half devil.” Said the half-devil me.

“Or a cold-blooded full devil that only thinks of revenge and genocide.” Said another distorted voice behind me. It was the transformed version of me that killed all those people, the full devil.

“So, I was me the one that killed everyone… not Ochiru… maybe I deserve to die for all those innocent lives I’ve taken.”

“Or you can keep living to prove everyone else that you can redeem yourself.” Said the half-devil me.

“What’s the point?! Kasai is dead! No-one in the public cares about me! And the only people that do care about me, don’t need me at all to keep going!”

“Think of Shizuka, she would fall in deep depression if you died. You’re the only remaining piece of evidence that she has. proving that she lived before becoming popular.” Said the half-devil me.

“Think of Sachi, she would kill herself so that Ochiru doesn’t come back anymore if you’re not there to stop her.” Said the human me.

“Would Kasai want you to give up?” Said the full devil version of me. And… Nightshade is also waiting for me. Fuji worries about me as if she were my big sister. And, the rest of the friends I made along the way…

“NO! I STILL KILLED MILLIONS!” I yelled while falling on my knees.

“Look behind me, Rukito.” Said the full devil version of me.

“Huh?” I said looking back. I saw millions and millions of people looking at me with a neutral face.

“These are the people we’ve killed. Most of them would probably end up in hell and serve as slaves.”

“S-Shut up!”

“LOOK AT THEM! WE TOOK THESE INNOCENT LIVES!” All their eyes were looking dead at me, men, women, and kids. I’ve never felt such humiliation before.

“Do you think they all want to see you giving up on yourself? Did Hachimura teach you nothing?” Said the half-devil.

“Do you want all the children to go through human trafficking based on their singularity and get these ‘Throughout Soul Evaluation’ tests?” Said the human.

“Do you want to disappoint Kasai even while she is on the afterlife?” Said the devil.

“No, I don’t…” I said.

“Let me show you one last memory before you go, Rukito.” Said the devil me. A blue light appeared in the air, suddenly removing all the black around me and changing it into a purple and blue galaxy. Everything was beautiful, and together with that light, I felt hope, motivation, and happiness within me.

Shortly after, a woman appeared floating down from the heavens. Glittering and sparkling more than a clear river. She had long blue hair and was wearing a white outfit. She had a major halo behind her; is she a goddess? She floated down with a smile on her face while she kept looking at me.

“How you’ve changed.” She said. Her voice was sweet and calming, it made all the anger that I had inside die down. I looked around me and all the versions of me disappeared in a smile. There was angel writing on her majestic halo behind her; now that my memory is recovered, I remember Shizuka teaching me on how to read some letters.

“Su… Suis… Suisei?”

“Mhm, that’s one of my many names.” She said with a big smile. She wasn’t speaking the common language, she was speaking some sort of ancient language, but I somehow understood what she was saying and could reply.

“The star goddess… w-why are you here?” Wait, that’s right, isn’t she the sister of Akira?

“I’m here to tell you that the stars shine upon you, Rukito.” I stood silent. Her presence filled the void with colossal energy of grace. “Please, keep going through the genuine path and you will find resolve.”

“Y-you… have a divine gemstone, right? Please! I need to know where it is!”

“Sorry, but I can’t say for sure. This is just a memory, we once met already, Rukito, long before I got enclosed inside a gem.”

“We did? But when…” I don’t recall seeing her ever in my life.

“Please, know that there are genuine archangels and gods like me, willing to help humans and other life. But there are also careless and evil that have no interest in helping humans whatsoever, you need to find their gemstones, and prove to them that humans are more than just primates.” I gazed deep into her eyes, and I… I could see the andromeda galaxy; her beauty and presence were still astonishing me.

“A-Alright…” Everything started to clear up, I knew what I was going to do now, I was going to redeem myself and prove that I’m not a monster, and I’m going to find all the gemstones to help Sachi and stop these wars from happening because of them, I will also prove to those archangels inside the gems that humans are not just some primates, humans have evolved and can evolve even further.

“From the look in your eyes… I see that you found your resolve.” She said.

“Yes. Thank you very much, Suisei. I really appreciate it.”

“Don’t thank me, thank Nightshade, she is the one that allowed me to reach to you through her music. I gave her that singularity just for this one moment.”

“What?”

“I am the one that created pixies after all.” She said with another smile.

“Huh?!” She started giggling, floated towards me and gave me an unexpected hug. My whole body felt at peace, I felt happiness, I felt so free and relaxed. I closed my eyes as she whispered,

“You can do it, brother. Don’t let anger blind you this time.” I didn’t expect to get a hug from a goddess, but I am technically her sibling after all, just a slight percent, since I'm the reincarnation of Akira, and Akira was her brother. But this feeling… I’ve never felt such feelings before, it’s even hard to describe with just words. I opened my eyes and she was gone. Instead, it was Nightshade the one that was hugging me. She was bruised and was bleeding from her head to toe, while Shizuka was enclosed in a protective spell. The whole room was messy and destroyed. I quickly came into my senses and stopped.

“Brother… please.” I hugged her back and said,

“Thank you, Nightshade.”

“H-huh?” She looked at me with sorrowful eyes.

“Thank you for everything,” I said while shedding tears. She started crying and said,

“No! Thank you!” Doesn’t she notice? She is bleeding!

“S-Shizuka, can you heal her?” I looked at her, and she was also crying.

“Y-Yeah!” She wiped her tears away and said, “Of course!” While Shizuka was healing her I said,

“Why didn’t you protected her too?”

“She jumped on you and didn’t want to let go, so I couldn’t protect her. Such a hard head!”

“You idiot! You could have gotten yourself killed!” I said.

“Sorry! Damn! I was just trying to help!” she said while sticking her tongue out and mocking me.

“But… you didn’t.” I said with a smile. I sat down on the sofa thinking of everything I’ve recovered. Nightshade finished healing up, and then her phone started ringing.

“Oh! Be right back! It’s Fuji!”

“Alright,” I said. It must be about her DJ outfit and stuff. She left the room therefor it was only me and Shizuka. She got up and started walking towards the shelf to put the book back. As she passed in front of me to get to the shelf, I said with a serious tone,

“I can’t imagine how you’ve felt this past year, Shizuka, I apologize.” She stopped, looked down, and then suddenly jumped on me.

“S-Shut up!” She hugged me with all her strength, which wasn’t much at the moment.

“I’m very impressed though, you didn’t give up, no matter how much you tried.”

“How could I? That’s not me.” She is right, she is not a person to give up easily. I started caressing her hair and said,

“Still have the same cherry blossom perfume?”

“It’s your favorite! Isn’t it?” She said with a smile and tears.

“Yeah, it is.” She was still hugging me. She then said,

“Can we stay like this for a while?”

“Yeah, you deserve being happy, more than anyone.”

Later that same afternoon, we all gathered up in the city plaza to say our goodbyes to Sora. Shizuka, Sora, Jinn, Nightshade, Vincenzo, and I were there.

“Where’s Sachi?” I asked.

“I don’t know, she should be here somewhere.”

“Wait, who did you just say?” Asked Shizuka.

“By the way, Sora, I don’t think you know, but Shizuka and I are close childhood friends.”

“WHAT?!” Sachi suddenly showed up and said,

“Hi, tomato! Or maybe stoplight-head fits better… but you don't have red hair anymore, nor the yellow eyes.”

“Hey, emo goddess!” I said.

“I’m not emo! I-I just like this style, ok?!”

“Wait…WHAT IS SHE DOING HERE?!” Yelled Shizuka. Ah, right, I completely forgot about this.

“Oh, by the way, Jinn, he recovered his memories, so you were right, he was the one that killed those people.” Said Nightshade innocently.

“WHAT?!” Yelled Jinn.

“I CAN'T BREATHE! NYAH!" Yelled Vincenzo from inside my backpack.

“DID I JUST HEAR A CAT?!” Yelled Nightshade. Oh boy, this will take some time to explain.