Chapter 268: Tear Stains
“Does Master know my parents?”
Looking at the documents in front of her, Kazumi didn’t pick them up to read immediately. Her gaze remained on Masashi Sakuraba beside her, and she asked the question somewhat uncertainly.
“I’ve had dealings with them, or rather, they were my superiors? After all, before Kurokawa took over, I was in charge of matters in Kyoto.”
Casually placing the folder on the table, Masashi Sakuraba replied indifferently.
“Then… in Master’s opinion, what kind of people were they?”
The young girl’s right hand lightly rested on the document, paying no attention to the new information revealed in Masashi Sakuraba’s words. Her cold tone carried a hint of hesitation, but she finally asked the question.
What kind of people were her parents?
Kazumi had wanted to know the answer to this question. But in the extremely vague memories of her previous self, there seemed to be only the despairing sound of a door closing as two blurred figures left, and the pain of being given hope each time only to be left again.
Perhaps it was resentment from her young and ignorant mind, or the brain’s protection mechanism for painful past experiences, but in the girl’s barren memory, there were very few images of her parents, so few that they were not as vivid as the image of her Uncle Akihiko Fukada.
Kazumi couldn’t agree with these memories now. Perhaps the girl, Kazumi Shimizu, who had lived for more than a decade in a daze, secretly hated her parents, hated them for abandoning her alone in that dark room, and hated them for leaving her without a word.
In Kazumi’s opinion, the couple probably had their own difficulties at the time.
As high-ranking researchers in such an underground organization, in a sense, their lives and lives no longer belonged to themselves. Perhaps the best outcome would have been to bring Kazumi to the research base where they were and live together, so that at least the family could live together, and the girl’s childhood would not have been so miserable.
But judging from the outcome, the couple still made their final choice. Whether it was the couple’s last wish, or Akihiko Fukada’s constant efforts, they all hoped that the girl would leave this dark quagmire and live a peaceful life as a civilian.
However, reality is always poignant. Although her parents wished for their daughter to live a peaceful life as a civilian until their death, the current girl, in pursuit of power, has voluntarily stepped back into this bottomless abyss without hesitation.
“What kind of people? If I had to say, they were idealists who were not suited to stay in this place.”
Unexpectedly, the girl would ask such a question. Masashi Sakuraba’s eyes darted around, as if recalling something, and finally gave his answer.
“What, Akihiko Fukada didn’t tell you about your parents?”
“No, Uncle Fukada has never told me anything about that.”
It seemed that Masashi Sakuraba knew something about her parents’ situation, and could even directly mention the name of her guardian, Akihiko Fukada. Kazumi shook her head and replied expressionlessly.
“Ah, in that case, I feel like this piece of information is enough to be worth the reward for this mission!”
Saying that with exaggerated embellishment, Masashi Sakuraba had no intention of reclaiming the previous reward. He casually used his ability to pick up a fruit platter from the pantry in the distance, and continued speaking while eating an apple.
“You should look at this document first. After reading it, you should know what I want to tell you.”
“Yes.”
Kazumi nodded obediently and, following his lead, picked up the thick research document and began to read it. However, apart from the words “Ability Elimination” on the cover, she could understand nothing else. The experimental data and professional terms were like celestial scriptures in the girl’s eyes, and she could only look at Masashi Sakuraba with a confused and pleading gaze.
“What’s wrong?” “I don’t understand.” “…”
The brief three words made Masashi Sakuraba somewhat embarrassed for a moment. Seeing the girl’s genuine look of confusion, Masashi Sakuraba realized that she truly couldn’t understand this extremely professional experimental report.
Because of Kazumi’s overly mature thinking and way of handling things, Masashi Sakuraba had unconsciously placed her on the same level as himself for communication, thus overlooking the fact that the girl was actually only a first-year high school student, just fifteen years old.
“It was my oversight…”
“You should know that the [Darkness] that ignited your abilities is the masterpiece of your parents’ research within the organization, right?”
Rearranging his words, Masashi Sakuraba clasped his hands together and continued speaking, looking at the girl in front of him.
“But actually, [Darkness] was not their original research subject, or rather, with their personalities, they would not have been willing to conduct research in this direction. And what is in your hands now is the true research purpose when they joined this organization.”
“Original research purpose?”
Muttering the words Masashi Sakuraba had just said, Kazumi stared intently at the large characters on the cover of the plan, and a guess seemed to form in her heart.
“‘Elimination of Dark Abilities’ was your father Masato Shimizu’s original research topic and direction. It’s quite laughable to be born in this dirty place yet have such unrealistic fantasies.”
Shaking his head, Masashi Sakuraba said with a hint of pity, not knowing whether he regretted the loss of such a talented researcher to the organization, or sighed at his overly naive ideals.
“As for what happened later, you can probably guess. The research results were reversed and deduced, leading to the birth of the current [Darkness]. And the reason why they thought this way might be to eliminate the darkness and return to the earth, or it might be for those who should not be trapped in darkness, who knows?”
Shrugging helplessly, in Masashi Sakuraba’s opinion, even for his own daughter, such thoughts from Masato Shimizu were truly too idealistic. Proposing such research in an organization like [Shadow] was probably as absurd as asking the boss to surrender himself to the police.
Although quite a few people were indeed forced to join this organization due to their abilities, if their original abilities were to be taken away, probably no one would be willing to go back to being an unremarkable civilian.
“For… those who should not fall into darkness…”
Masashi Sakuraba’s calm tone, however, struck the girl’s heart like a heavy hammer. The fragmented memories that had been in her mind seemed to be activated and connected. The vague memories from before, the speculation about her parents’ identities, the few words from Akihiko Fukada, and now Masashi Sakuraba’s evaluation of her parents, all of it converged at this moment.
The memories in her mind were like a photo frame with dust wiped away. The originally gray shadows gradually gained color, and the blurred faces gradually became clearer.
From the girl’s perspective, they were no longer despairing figures leaving her, but middle-aged men and women who, despite their weary faces, embraced her with smiles. They were no longer heartless parents who abandoned her without a word, but a man who held her in his arms and told her old fairy tales during their short half-hour reunion, and a woman busy in the kitchen trying to make her a delicious meal.
These were her parents…
…
“Click—”
After an unknown amount of time, a faint door closing sound interrupted Kazumi’s contemplation. The belated girl looked up, but Masashi Sakuraba was long gone from the empty conference room. Only a box of tissues had suddenly appeared on her right side, where her hand had been resting on the table.
“What is this?”
Looking strangely at the inexplicable box of tissues, the itchy feeling on her face interrupted the girl’s thoughts again.
Subconsciously reaching up to wipe her face, a warm dampness replaced the previous sensation. She spread her palm open with a certain dazedness, and what met her eyes was.
A clearly visible tear stain.
