"Yes, I can."
The words echoed straight into Ryuk’s head, and he watched as the little girl’s expression slowly turned from a gleaming smile into a sad one.
Then came the tears, gushing from her eyes, their color strangely the same multicolor as her hair, raining down onto Ryuk below.
’Did talking to her make her cry?’ he thought, confused.
But his expression quickly changed when she suddenly buried her face in his chest, staining it with tears and wiping her nose directly onto him.
"Eugh!"
"Can someone get this girl off me!" he roared in exasperation, but all he got in return was their forced-down laughter, as none of them moved an inch from where they stood.
In the end, he could only turn back to her, silently waiting for her tears and sniffles to stop.
It did, after ten long minutes, one of the most helpless ten minutes of his entire life, before she finally rose, her beaming smile returning.
"I’m sorry," she said, rubbing off her tears.
"It’s just... It’s the first time someone has been able to speak to me," she added, but he only grew more confused.
’Hey system?’
[Yes.]
What exactly is she?
[I don’t know.]
It replied, causing a vein to twitch on the side of his head.
"I’m sorry," Ryuk said aloud.
"It’s not your fault," she replied, and Ryuk nodded.
It was really not.
"Now, can I ask you to get off me?" he asked straight into her mind, but his facial expression gradually turned alarmed as he watched her tear up again.
"Did... did you not like me?" she said, the tears ready to fall again and threaten another ten minutes of his life.
"Of course not. I like you very well," he said half-heartedly, but it was enough for the tears to stop.
"It’s just, I have to go meet with my friends over there and talk to them about something important. That’s why I need you to climb off," he said, more softly this time.
She turned to look at the group instead, her rainbow eyes shimmering with color, before she slowly backed away from Ryuk.
The second she was off, Ryuk instantly became a phantom, flashing out of reality, and in the next second, he was standing behind the group.
They turned toward him, then quickly averted their gaze—except for one who jumped onto him, tightening her arms around him in a hug.
’I’ve been getting too many hugs lately,’ Ryuk couldn’t help but note.
But he wasn’t annoyed by this one, as the person hugging him was none other than Isha.
She hugged him so tightly, she suddenly began to slip straight into Ryuk, but realized a moment later, stepping out of him again.
"Ryuk!" she called out, but his face held a small "hmph" expression.
"You didn’t come to save me," he said, and watched her turn to look at the rainbow-haired girl.
"Something in me tells me to never come in contact with those rainbow lights of hers. That... that it’d be too dangerous..." she replied, and Ryuk turned his gaze to the rainbow girl, who waved at him from the seat with a big smile.
She looked so stupidly cute and naïve that it was hard to believe the mighty Isha was afraid of such a tiny girl.
"I’m sorry," she apologized to Ryuk, who rubbed her head, messing with her hair.
"It’s fine."
Then he turned to the group, his gaze unknowingly drifting to a holograph that quickly caught his attention.
He reached out and magnified the image, and there he saw a moving projection.
It was the outside world, but there was no Void.
It was an endless stretch of red flowers and chirping birds with strange red fur.
Mountainous peaks lay covered in these blooming flowers, everywhere his eyes could see.
A perfect definition of an alien jungle.
"Where are we?" Ryuk asked, and Elder Celine beside him responded.
"A world in the Upper Realm, called Namur."
’Finally, we’re in the upper realm,’ He thought, exhaling in relief, but then,
’Na...mur,’ Ryuk thought in his head, but it didn’t ring any bells.
Until Antares spoke up after:
"It’s the last location where the Aetheris Barbarian race was said to have been seen," he said, and Ryuk’s eyes gleamed with light.
Of course.
Antares had tagged along on their journey because he was looking for his race, the Aetheris Barbarians.
They had already arrived in the Upper Realm, and now the search had begun.
But then, Ryuk remembered,
He had never told Elder Celine the real reason he brought Antares here was to help him find his people.
And yet, she had still sent her ship flying through realms in search of it.
He turned toward her at that thought, but she silenced him with her words.
"You can say that after we do find anything. We’ve been running around for the past three days without a single clue," she said, a bit exasperated.
Ryuk hummed under his breath, turning to look again at the holograph of the outside world.
Not a second, and he already had a possible solution, calling out a moment later,
"Hey Void,"
The Void Panther puffed into existence by his side.
"Open a portal outside," he said, and Void’s claw stirred to the side, opening a gigantic portal.
"Can you slow the ship down a little, Elder Celine?" he asked, as she grabbed a holograph and brought the ship to a cruising pace.
He turned to Antares and nodded before stepping into the portal, along with Void.
The barbarian followed him in, but before the portal could close, the rest of the group immediately stepped through as well, leaving behind a single silhouette inside the ship, who stared at where they had all disappeared, blinking twice.
---
"Huh?"
The sound escaped Ryuk’s lips as he turned around to see their entire group standing next to the ship.
He remembered only calling for Antares.
"If you’re going to search through the planet, then it only makes sense we all go together, no?" Rakshasha said with her charming smile.
But then, she watched as Ryuk’s eyebrow creased.
"To go searching, huh?" he muttered.
"Wait, you weren’t planning for a search?" she asked, looking at Ryuk, who shook his head.
"I just wanted to ask someone," he replied, and they all raised an eyebrow.
’Ask someone?’
’Who?’
They watched Ryuk walk further toward the nose of the ship, then stopped.
He closed his eyes, inhaling the forest breeze—
Then his eyes opened, a blue flame slowly dancing forth from their depths.
"Activate King’s Aura."