"What?" Void asked, looking at Ryuk’s expression.
It was almost like a ghost had been suddenly thrown at him at night—and then he realized it was a prank.
"Aster isn’t Ryuk’s bitch," Isha said to Ryuk.
"Oh, please, Isha. Don’t call her a bitch," he said, reclining back in his seat as Isha giggled.
"So, who’s his bitch then? How could I not know her though?" it asked with furrowed eyebrows as Isha replied.
"It’s not a bitch. It’s Ryuk’s lover. Her name is Morgaine, and Ryuk likes her a lot..." Isha whispered as Void looked at Ryuk, noticing the goof was silent before its gaze darkened and its aura took on a deeper, more contemplative air.
Void replied,
"Nah. I doubt that," he said.
And it was Isha and Ryuk’s turn to raise an eyebrow, though one of them still refused to open his eyes.
"Why did you say that?" Isha asked.
"Well, because when Ryuk first came back, the first person he ran to was Aster. Not Morgaine, or whatever her name is."
"If she was his lover, and he loved her enough to ignore all the other perky boobs, then she ought to be the first person he ran to. Which she wasn’t."
"Well, Aster and Ryuk are business partners. I’m guessing that could come first before most things. To get himself some peace to deal with her, I think..." Isha defended, but Void scoffed.
"Nah. He didn’t reunite with Aster for long. To be fair though, he left to the business of fighting those Knulls, which I guess was really important during that time. But after that, he still didn’t go check up on his lover."
"He came instantly for you instead."
"One would have thought you were dying or something, with the way he sped there..." Void said, as Isha’s eyes lit up, looking at Ryuk, but then her eyebrows knitted again.
"And after he got you, he still didn’t look for this lover of his, and went to the Adventurer’s Guild directly."
"And now he’s lying on that seat so peacefully, like a man who has gotten all he wanted in life..."
"Where’s the sign of this supposed lover? The love sounds like bullshit to me..." Void stated, as Void lazily snuggled into her cold embrace, only for a dark vortex to appear an inch from its pink nose, and a hand came out of it, grabbing Void by the neck and yanking him off.
"Hey!" Void cried out, but it cut off when it opened its eyes to the sight of Ryuk’s glowing crimson gaze.
"Ah-ah-ah. Ryuk. What’s up?" it said, but only lasted for a second before Ryuk released its neck.
Before it could fall down on him, Void faded into nothingness, sent straight back into pet space.
BAAANG
BAAANG
BAAANG
"You’re not getting out of that place until five hours from now, Void!"
BAAAANG
BAAAANG
BAAAANG
"Bang all you want—all you’ll give me is a headache. Trust me, I’ve been through worse," Ryuk stated as he settled himself on the seat, smirking in victory when he noticed Void eventually stopped raving in the pet space, trying to come out.
The cat talked too much, and said a lot of bullshit.
Talking to it was like talking to some lecherous old man who had lived for a thousand years—so the best thing to do was silence it by throwing it into the pet space, which it seemed to hate so much.
If it knew Ryuk could lock it in, it would eventually stop its running mouth.
But then, Ryuk felt the seat he was on grow cold, along with an ice-cold breath and touch as he turned to look at Isha, burrowed by his side.
He shifted a bit, giving her space, as some bit of silence descended on the balcony, with the only sounds to be heard being the howling breeze and gently flapping clothes.
"What’s wrong?" Isha whispered from beside him as Ryuk opened his eyes, looking into her silvery blue gaze.
"What’s that?" he asked back, but she remained silent, and that silence gave him the answer he needed as he exhaled.
"Don’t worry about it. I got everything under control."
"No, you don’t," Isha whispered back, as Ryuk chuckled softly before replying,
"And how did you know that?"
"Because you always have things under control, and you never needed to say it in words. This is the first time you said you have it under control, instead of me seeing it."
"You don’t have things under control, do you?" Isha whispered softly as Ryuk inhaled a bit before turning away from her, looking at the sky.
The sun was now starting to dip completely off the sky’s edge, leaving an orange glow at the edge of the sky.
The silence continued on as Ryuk’s eyes burned with various conflicting emotions before he finally uttered,
"Hey, Isha."
"What’s that?"
"What do you think I am? Like the Nagas, the Titans, and all of the rest."
"What race do you think I am?" he asked, and Isha replied without hesitation.
"You’re a human."
"You think so?" he asked, and she nodded.
"Yes. I sometimes wonder about the robotic component, though. You don’t bleed that much, and you regenerate too fast."
"But through that regeneration, I catch glimpses of something synthetic—robotic components."
"So I’m always in doubt whether you fused with a robot or something, which is not common, but not completely rare either amongst the humans," Isha stated her thoughts as Ryuk smiled.
It made sense for her suspicions. She had always been by his side and, of course, already knew about his Nanobody.
It should have piqued her curiosity, although she never really asked.
"I have a secret I want to tell you... about myself," he said to her, turning to look straight into her eyes.
"I’m not human, Isha..."
"Oh, then what are you then?" she asked innocently, as Ryuk’s heartbeat quickened by a bit, but he forced it steady.
"I’m a Knull," he replied.
The words were whispers, but loud enough for both of them, on that seat, as the breeze in the air flapped more wildly.
Ryuk’s gaze remained silently locked on Isha’s, studying the flicker of realization crossing her face.
She was gauging his reaction, hoping to see if he was joking, but that quiet seriousness and intent look were all Isha needed to know.
He was being honest—and not bluffing.
It struck her with surprise, but it struck Ryuk with even more surprise when she rolled from the side to the top of him, giving him a deep embrace as her head rested on his chest.
Each powerful heartbeat reverberated through Isha.
"Okay, Ryuk."