✔ | At Least We Have Forever

Chapter 38 - Remnants Of Her True Memories

"Riya...? How come you're... here?"

The said maiden smiled sweetly and did a curtsy before she spoke.

"I'm glad you finally made it here, Kurama. Although, I must say that this is a little unexpected," Riya said with a smile.

Kurama frowned at that. "What do you mean? And what is this place, anyway?" he asked in confusion as he looked around.

"Don't you remember?" she asked in amusement. "Try recalling because this place is somewhere that's significant to the two of us."

The redhead gave her a confused look but nodded and did what she asked. And upon analyzing the whole place, his eyes widened as a certain memory struck him so fast.

"This is where we first met... where everything about us began.." he said with a nostalgic smile, finally remembering that important memory. But then, his face turned serious before facing Riya. "But what am I doing here? And how come I ended up here? I was supposed to be at school defending... you..."

Riya just gave him a reassuring smile and lifted her hand to touch his face.

"Don't worry, this won't take long. I'm just going to show you something for you to completely understand what I have done," she said seriously. He frowned at that but before he could say something about that, he saw Riya holding his hand and smiled. "Let's go."

"Go where?" he asked.

Riya gently pulled Kurama and he just followed her. They continued traversing the snow-covered road until they reached the end of it where a bright light—a portal of some sort—awaited them. Without a word, both of them entered as he was unmindful of his heart beating unusually fast though he knew it wasn't a bad thing.

Walls of crystals in blazing red color greeted them both as they exited the portal. It was a surprising sight for Kurama since that was the first time he saw something like that.

"T-this is..."

"The Fire Crystal Hallway," Riyareplied as they continued to walk hand in hand. "One of the seven special hallways of the Alyssum Castle, each of which leads to different rooms of this castle."

"Seven special hallways? You mean each of the hallways represents that seven Legendary Weapons?"

Riya nodded as an answer to Kurama's question.

"Then this hallway represents the Dragon Sword of Flame?"

"You answered it well," Riya said. "The Fire Crystal Hallway will lead us to the Sacred Heart Room."

"But what are we going to do there?"

The maiden smiled faintly. "Don't worry. It's just that there's something you have to see there."

Kurama didn't know why but he had this urge inside of him to say that he could trust her, though he knew that the Riya beside him right now was just an illusion. They continued to walk through the Fire Crystal Hallway until they reached the end of it.

But it surprised him to see Yusuke and the others waiting outside the room.

"Yusuke? How come they're here?" he asked himself but when he looked at it even better, that was when he saw that the clothes worn by the group were the same ones during the battle of the first full moon.

"Don't tell me... This is a vision of the past?" he exclaimed but more to himself.

Riya nodded. "You finally figured it out."

"But... what does this vision has something to do with me? And why were they here?" he asked in slight confusion as he faced the said vision. He saw Yusuke walking back and forth in front of the door non-stop.