Haru walked alone through the royal gardens. He looked at one of the bushes, heavy with white and pink blossoms. It was a quiet, carefree morning.
Or rather – a whole decade had slipped away, calm and golden, like one endless morning.
Memories came back to him, the time when, after the incident with Hayate, his parents finally came to visit and meet their grandchildren.
Shion had come up with a story – that Asahi was simply their next child, born during one of their journeys, who happened to absorb the spirit of a dead dragon along the way.
A strange accident of fate, nothing more.
That was the version they told their parents and most importantly, their own children.
Only the two of them knew the truth.
Haru sighed.
I really tried to love that child… but I can't love him the way Shion and Yuri do. I do everything I can so he doesn't feel lesser, so he won't feel .
"Mom… are you here, Mom?" a timid boy's voice called out from afar.
Sometimes I forget I'm a man.
