Guide to tamming vilanesses

From the moment Shin stepped into the house, Kaho felt her chest tighten. She could not fully tell the reason, but her instincts kicked in, telling her that something was off.

From a very young age, she had been shy and weak, and her parents had never been kind to her. So she did everything in her power to avoid angering them. She always read their moods and carefully chose her next actions.

And when she entered school and was forced to interact with other people, she kept her personality attentive and careful.

She did not want to anger anyone. She never wanted to cause any problems, so she developed an abnormal level of awareness.

The girl was constantly scanning her surroundings to know where people were so she would not bump into anyone. She was always attentive to everyone’s mood, down to the smallest shift.

And all of that gave her a natural instinct to identify the negative emotions of the people around her. She could just feel when someone nearby was angry, sad, stressed, or dealing with some problem.

And she felt all of that from Shin. He was smiling and talking normally, but she could not shake the instinctive feeling that something was wrong with him. She knew she should just ignore it, but...

He and Eva had done so much for her, and all she ever did to anyone was cause trouble, so she at least wanted to ask. But it was scary, and she hesitated several times. Until, in a sudden burst of courage, she finally said the words:

"Are you okay?"

At first, Shin was taken aback by the sudden question.

He was sure his expression had been normal. He should not, in any way, have let it show that he had worries on his mind about Liza. Especially because he knew he could not talk about it.

What was he supposed to say? That the day had a bitter taste for him because it was the anniversary of the death of his girlfriend from another dimension? Besides, Shin had always been confident in his ability to keep secrets.

But maybe the problem was not him, but Kaho...

Thinking about it more carefully, neither Ana, nor his sister, nor Eva had noticed anything different about him. Shin had spent the entire morning with Ange, Ana, and Tomoko, and none of them had commented that he seemed off. And all of them knew him very well.

So it was not that Shin had lost his talent for hiding his emotions. The problem was that Kaho was extremely perceptive.

In any case, Kaho’s question made Eva pay more attention to Shin and revisit her memories of that day. She was not sure what it could be, but she also had a slight feeling that something was wrong.

And the queen would not be satisfied with just any answer. With eyes full of concern, she questioned Shin, who gave up on inventing a lie. In that case, it would be easier just to admit that something was wrong.

"To be honest, today is not a good day for me," he finally admitted. "But I have no intention of telling you why," he said, looking at Eva. "I’m sorry, but it’s a secret."

"Why? Why do you need to keep secrets from me? At least let me do something to help!" Eva almost pleaded. "Give me any order. There must be something I can do to make you feel better."

Meanwhile, Kaho remained silent. She was not sure what she should do, and she was a bit afraid Shin would get angry with her. It was because she had asked a question when she should have stayed quiet that he was having problems.

Of course, if he wanted to talk about it, he would have talked...

Kaho thought to herself, clenching her fists and spiraling into bad thoughts. As always, I’m such a bother to everyone... I should just keep my mouth shut. She thought.

Anyway, Eva would not go against Shin’s orders, and since he had told her not to poke her nose into the subject, she fell silent.

Looking at Kaho from the corner of her eye, she noticed her friend was once again spiraling into bad thoughts, but Eva had no idea what the reason for it was this time.

"It’s because of his ex-girlfriend!" Liliel suddenly appeared out of nowhere and said it.

"Liliel!" Shin shouted in anger and tried to grab her, but failed.

She placed her hand on her hip, leaned toward him, and stuck out her tongue. "You are too slow to ever catch me." Then she turned to Eva. "Today is her death anniversary, and he always gets grumpy on this date. And I think he is especially regretful because he will not be able to visit her grave."

Shin took a deep breath and asked Liliel mentally, What the hell are you doing?

’Telling them the truth, because you keep trying to run away from your own feelings like a pussy!’ Liliel shouted into his mind. ’Stop running away!’

While Liliel and Shin were having a mental discussion, Eva opened her eyes wide. That short conversation had shocked her in many ways. She had not expected Shin to have an ex-girlfriend, much less one who was dead.

He was just eighteen, so it was shocking, but still she commented on the first thing that came to her mind when she heard the subject.

"Wait, why can’t you go visit her grave?"

"Because it’s in the United States. I can’t go there," Shin answered instinctively.

The truth was that the grave was in another dimension, and he would never be able to visit it again.

The last vestige he still had to remember her was gone, and as such, in this new world and this new life, he should completely forget this past love.

It was past the time to move on, or at least that was how Shin thought he should act. That was why he did not want to acknowledge his own feelings or do anything about them.

"Where in the United States? We can go..." Eva said immediately. "I can get you to any place in the world instantly, so... just give the order, and it will be done." She said it in a submissive tone and then fell silent.

She did not want to press her king too much. After all, the final decision was entirely his. She had no right to interfere, and she trusted that Shin would always know what was best to do.

’You really should go!’ Liliel screamed in his mind once again.

At that point, there was no point in running away from it anymore. And the words Liliel had told him were still annoying Shin. He had never been the type to run away from anything, after all.

"Okay, can you get me to New York?" he asked.

Of course, the grave would not be there, but he could at least visit the place where she was buried. He was not sure what he would do once he got there, but he needed to somehow confront this feeling deep in his chest.

"Of course!" Eva answered immediately. "I can get you a private flight."

"Thank you," Shin said with a resigned sigh.

"And by the way, Kaho, didn’t you tell me there was a New Yorker researcher who had sent you an email or something like that?" Eva turned around and asked Kaho.

"Yes, but it was probably just some prank... There is no way someone as important as Dr. Stacy would be interested in my work," she said, looking down.

"Stacy..." Shin murmured the name. He may have heard it before, but probably only once. "Is she the chief researcher of... what was the name?"

"It’s the Ancient Languages Institute," Eva pointed out. "And I really think you should go. No one would pull a prank like that."

Shin agreed with Eva, and even though Kaho did not believe it herself, it was decided that she would go too. However, to Shin’s surprise, Eva was not going to accompany them because she had other problems to take care of in Japan, or something like that.

Thanks to that, less than an hour later, both Shin and Kaho took a private jet to New York. As soon as they arrived, Kaho stayed at the hotel, while Shin immediately went to visit the cemetery.

He wanted to settle this once and for all. His body, moving almost by instinct, crossed the rows of that morbid place until he reached a simple, nostalgic tombstone.

He had not had much money at the time, so all he had managed to get was a humble gravestone that occupied little space. However, the details carved around it had been sculpted by Shin himself, who had learned the skill for that very reason.

For a few moments, a nostalgic melancholy mixed with comfort filled him, until he blinked and noticed something.

Why was Liza’s tomb here?

He looked at the tombstone in front of him again and examined it from bottom to top. It was precisely the same as the one in his dimension. The words, the name, the position, everything was exactly the same.

"Could this be...?" Liliel appeared and asked in surprise.

"What is happening...?" Shin murmured.