NOVEL NEXT Chapter 299: Melancholy
(Ryoto's pov)
"Rin... your eyes turned blue." I carefully said it while still being shocked at this development.
"...What?" Hearing the confusion, I elaborated.
"I don't mean blue like mine. The color of your eyes turned blue." Her confusion only increased, and she turned to Unohana for confirmation. Our dear, friendly Captain was as bewildered by this development as we were, but she just nodded, saying that Rin's eyes indeed turned blue.
This wasn't something I expected to happen, but with my eyes, nothing is easy or straightforward. We don't have much time, but it should be enough to figure this out.
"Rin, when you explained your Zanpakuto's ability, it seemed like you would be able to see through my eyes and I through yours. Thanks to my eyes, I already could do that, but the better question is, can you do that with my sight now that we are connected?"
Usually, blue eyes don't have any deeper meaning, but with me nearby, I would say she successfully connected our eyes, but I don't know to what extent.
My request was quickly fulfilled as Rin nodded and focused on doing what I asked her.
It didn't take long before I could feel someone looking through my eyes. The All-Seeing Eyes of God may be weakened at the moment, but they have no competition when it comes to sight, as far as I know. I may be mistaken, as I may not be aware of very powerful eyes from some niche anime, but that's what I believe.
"I can." Rin finally answered. "Is this how you see everything? It's just so much..."
"Information." I finished her sentence. "Yes, but I'm already used to it."
"I thought that my vision got much better suddenly, but your eyesight is something else entirely." She responded with Wow, but her small comment caught my attention.
"Did you say that your vision got better?"
"Yes... Everything became much clearer as if I had been living my whole life without glasses when I needed them, and I just got them."
Hmm.
"How about anything else? Do you feel something different besides that? Like you could do more with your eyes than before. Like, for example, zooming your vision."
I have some ideas of what happened, but it's better to check all corners to be 100% sure.
Rin once again focused and narrowed her eyes to try my suggestion.
"I... seem to have the ability to zoom, but not too much. Nothing more is coming to me, though."
I'm starting to have an idea why this happened.
"I think that you didn't connect our sight but our eyes, or rather, your eyes with my eyes' powers. You don't have their full power or potential, but still, it's incredible. Let me test one more thing."
With that said, I opened my eyes and tried to make Rin see some illusions. It wasn't anything special, and it would be hard to notice if she wasn't immune to illusions.
I couldn't keep it up for long without worsening the condition of my eyes, but I didn't need to, as almost immediately after I activated my eyes, Rin furrowed her brows, showing that she noticed something was amiss.
"Is something the matter, Rin?" I asked cheekily.
"Yes... Some of the scenery suddenly was being overlapped or doubled. One scenery looks normal, and the other one is blue, and it doesn't seem real."
So it doesn't work like my eyes, but it still lets her differentiate illusions from the real thing.
I sighed inwardly and even let a smile form on my face, which Rin took notice of instantly, and she already knew what that meant.
"It looks like we'll be watching each other's backs tomorrow."
"That we'll do... that we'll do."
---
It was time... time to finally end everything. End my century-old cold war, and most of all, my mission here will end soon after. And after that, I can rest, fully, I mean. I'll sleep without worrying about some genius manipulator who will kill me or my family for one reason or another, or he will somehow turn us against each other, which he succeeded with Akio.
Once again, I'm just tired. I miss having my worries mainly consisting of school, maybe some quest from Karen, and fighting off Lala's fiancés. But I'm not going to lament over what parts of myself I've lost over the years. It's better to focus on what I've gained. People I care about, my family I made here... my children. God, I love these rascals, and I would do everything for them to have a good and long life, and this will help them with it. Removing Aizen will create a safer environment. That's what I keep telling myself because I don't want to look selfish, caring about my own well-being over my childrens', but in truth, it's a bit of both.
I can't forget about my original goal, but an additional one was added in the meantime. That's how life goes sometimes, I guess. I wonder what everyone will say when they find out that I'm already a father and what they'll do when they indubitably meet them. I have no doubts that either I'll find a way for my kids and lovers to visit me or, and I must admit, it's a very small chance to happen, Urahara will find a way.
It will be fun to see how Yukima interacts with her 'Aunt Mikan' and my little sister's reactions to that. She always tries to act mature, but being called an aunt by a much older girl will definitely be a shock. Lala will undoubtedly like them if not love them. That girl doesn't have a bad bone in her body and likes it when everybody around her is happy. Rito will turn bright red when imagining what I needed to do to have kids, even though he did the same when I told him and Mikan that Lala was pregnant. He is a pure soul in a perverted body. Truly a paradox, my brother is. Akio will be awkward around his new family, mostly because he would still feel guilty about trying to kill me, hopefully not, but I know better. He is my son, after all. Masaru will probably just be happy to meet the family from his father's side.
I sometimes told stories with Rin about our lives back home while being vague about it being the other world. We'll probably tell them before we depart, but when they were younger, we couldn't be sure that they wouldn't tell anyone by mistake. We'll also tell others about it. They know something is off, but they don't know the whole truth. They don't push us to tell them, and I'm thankful for that. Trust like that can't be built in one day.
And how can I forget about Koro-sensei. He is the reason I'm here in the first place. Maybe he'll think that I grew into a delinquent for having children in my teens. A fun thought to have, but it leads me to another thought. A bit more serious.
After all my time here, I started believing that the dead should stay dead for the most part. There are exceptions, like with all things, but this work changed my view on death. I'm still going to bring back Koro-sensei. I'm not going back on my promise, but I'm doubtful I will ever repeat that. I can't say for sure until it happened, but unless something unexpected happens and it wasn't their time to depart from this world, I'll let them rest in peace. Does it make me a bad person? I don't know. Maybe seeing the death of many people numbed me to some extent.
In my opinion, people only cling to life so hard because they know it will end someday, so losing it early is a waste. They always believe that they have so much more to do before they die. When people die of old age, they don't do that. Instead, they either reminisce about the past or think about their regrets. I probably won't die from old age. If not because of my soul's strength, then I bet something will happen in the future. A reward from a mission that I'll get or some kind of event on said mission that will lengthen my lifespan even further. Even if nothing happens, I will already live for at least 2 thousand years. These are just the thoughts that come to me more often as I get older, and I'm barely 300 years old. I shiver to think what will happen in another 500.
Now that I think about it, my most peaceful times were when the kids were young. Most parents complain about many sleepless nights when taking care of the newborns, but we, the girls and I, were four-person teams in total, and we rotated this responsibility in a way that wasn't a problem. The problem was keeping the kids in one place once they learned how to walk.
I smiled wistfully, remembering how Yukima was the worst offender, and she would drag her brothers into trouble way too often. Or how Akio, even at a young age, liked to tinker with things, and I and often Isane needed to stop him from making a mess. Masaru was the only one who was remotely responsible. As the oldest child, he took his role as a big brother very seriously and, more often than not, tried to take the blame for his siblings' mishaps.
Thinking about these times makes me really feel like an old man, but the fact is that they were the best years of my life, even with the possible danger coming at our door.
I looked to both of my sides and asked. "Everyone's ready?" And after getting a bunch of nods we moved out.
---
END
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