Ringo emerged from the woman's dream and looked at them both with complicated eyes.
He finally understood part of his past, well, the past of his body, but he hadn't expected to encounter it like this.
The short haired woman's name is Lena, the honey haired woman's name is Eva, and the supposed mother's name is Melissa. He stayed in Lena's dream for a long time to learn more.
There, he saw many things.
He saw himself several times. When they were about to become Supers, Eva and he were selected. There, they met Lena, who recognized him and approached him again. From her look, Ringo discovered that she had never forgotten him. Unfortunately, Ringo only wanted to become Super so he could find Emma.
The irony was that Eva managed to become a Pugilist and Lena a mechanic. Ringo not only failed to become either, but even after his mother gave him an Esper awakening serum, he still couldn't become a Super.
He also discovered that his relationship with his mother seemed a bit complicated. From what Lena had seen, they never got along. He only understood why when Ringo ran away alone to look for Emma.
His mother wanted him to live a normal life, get a government job, get married and have children, but he wanted to find Emma, so much so that when he managed to elude the security guards his mother assigned him, he fled Hesla.
Ringo can imagine how difficult the original's life must have been back then. Running away alone like a common man.
He saw that when his mother found out, she was furious. Not only her, but Lena saw Eva uproot a tree as thick as her waist and start using it as a club to hit everything around her.
Lena isolated herself for a while after that. Brooding over her sadness with loneliness.
The three of them were wronged by the old Ringo, the current one was a bit embarrassed.
It had nothing to do with him, but he inherited the body, so... what now? How does he deal with this kind of situation?
Han Xiao managed to leave his father and brothers behind because they never loved him and used him like a disposable chess piece.
Xiao Han's father must have lived a long time, but he could never enjoy his son's glory. He was forgotten in the margins of time.
But what about him?
He has a mother and two childhood friends who clearly care deeply about him.
Leave here and hide? Pretend this never happened?
He instinctively felt an aversion to this, not only for his own morality, but also because deep down, he still felt affection for her, especially Melissa.
They fought a lot, but from the feelings within Ringo, he could tell he still loved his mother.
Ringo was momentarily unsure of what to do.
With a sigh, he transformed into a spirit and flowed away from the camp. He needed to think.
Ringo returned to the Aurora Wind. The location wasn't far from his previous position, taking less than an hour to fly. He went to Fabian's company and picked up Jack and Will.
He returned to the Victoria Hotel and relaxed on the deck, drinking a few beers while Jack and Will played, chasing each other. Inside the apartment, he didn't mind.
Will, always mischievous, bit Jack's tail to make him play while Jack tried to focus on chewing a bone and growled every now and then when Will tried to take it from him.
Ringo just laughed lightly and ignored it. He drank slowly, staring thoughtfully at the night sky.
Ever since he saw the duo, Eva and Lena, he'd been feeling irritated. He tried to change his mind, but he couldn't. The two always came back to him, not in a romantic way, but more as if he'd done something wrong and now needed to apologize.
But he also saw their feelings.
Whether it was Lena or Eva, they both loved him, not as good friends, but as lovers. Lena was shyer and never let it show, but from the memories he saw of his interactions with Eva, even though she never made it clear, she showed her true colors several times. Even Lena noticed and became jealous of Eva's courage.
The kind of actions like leaning on his arm, pulling his hand, fixing her hair when she spoke to him...
Eva did all this and more, she probably read some dating book, but Ringo didn't care.
Maybe he was just an idiot. Maybe he pretended not to see. Who knows?
Emma...
Ringo's drawing was good, even if it wasn't 100% accurate, it was still at least 80%. He could picture the woman now, she looked very familiar, but with the original Ringo's love for her, he didn't doubt the source of that familiarity one bit.
What would he do when he met Emma? He'd asked himself this many times.
The fact is, he prefers Hila himself, but could he let Emma go? He doesn't know, precisely because it's a nightmare now, he can see that Emma was so important to him that she left a mark on his subconscious, not even he as a nightmare could shake it off.
Perhaps the old Ringo died and was consumed by his soul, most of his memories gone, but Emma's memories, at least the memory of her promise, were so important that the old Ringo used everything about him to imprint his obsession on his soul.
It was ironic.
His obsession with Hila was something that seemed to come from his body, something genetic, like when a member of a species sees a strong female who can produce good offspring, but his obsession with Emma was the opposite, completely spiritual.
Ringo drank there until he was drunk and fell asleep snoring loudly.
Will went over and jumped on top of him, falling asleep on his chest.
With Will's weight, he would probably kill a normal human if he tried to do that, at the very least he would break some bones, but Ringo didn't even blink, Jack also stopped chewing the bone, ran to the light switch, turned it off with it's nose, then went to the balcony and slept on Ringo's legs.
--x--
Around lunchtime, the Hesla group arrived at the old secret base on Hesla. It was a location that hadn't been used in a long time, perfect for concealing the next attack.
But most of the group was looking at Han Xiao's group strangely. This guy really knows how to drive. They watched Han Xiao's companions puke their guts out while he smoked peacefully.
Eva and Lena also arrived last. Lena was driving, taking her time, even with Eva's constant nagging about losing to Stardragon.
-You should have let me drive. - She complained, thinking he could do better than Han..
-This isn't a driving competition. -Lena rolled her eyes and ignored her.
Eva huffed angrily and got out of the car, slamming the door.
Lena quickly followed, looking thoughtful. - I still think something strange happened last night. How did we both fall asleep while we were working?
Eva seemed disinterested. - I don't know, probably just tiredness. Anyway, our clothes weren't touched, and our things were still there.
As a pugilist, Eva knew her own body best, as soon as she woke up she quickly checked herself, relieved to discover that she was intact.
Lena frowned, but decided to drop the subject for now. Without finding a clue, there was no way to pursue the matter further.
The pair approached as the team began to divide tasks.
One part would infiltrate the Raven Forest city to gather information; the other would track down isolated Germinal Sentinels and try to extract information from them.
Of course, the most dangerous job was the first. The second was to ambush lone individuals, the first was to enter a city potentially teeming with Germinal spies. One false move and everyone would be exposed.
The Hesla group quickly handed the dangerous job over to the Stardragon. Eva volunteered to join the attack on the Sentinels, and Lena stayed behind to provide support. Four Stardragon and nine Hesla Sentinels remained with her.
Lena looked curiously at the driver of the black truck, who could drive so fast it seemed like he was flying.
Han Xiao noticed the look, glanced at her, and looked away.
Probably thinking something like - "Women? It only affects the speed of my machine construction!"
Lena is very beautiful, most men give her a second glance. Han Xiao, on the other hand, is more concerned with gears.
Lena didn't have a huge ego, thinking everyone should fall in love with her, but this simple action increased her interest in Han Xiao. Not in a romantic way, more like meeting a magician on the street and staring at him, hoping he'll do something interesting.
Eva, on the other hand, couldn't care less about anything that wasn't of interest to her. She didn't even give Han Xiao a second glance, then went straight to the mission, expecting some combat.
.
--x--
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+10 chapters of Jugo - Father of Devils on P_treon.
+16 chapters of The Legendary Mechanic - Triple Six on P_treon.
P_treon: March_Rain