The private room was still buzzing.
Everyone had finished watching Joyful Souls. Nobody seemed remotely ready to stop talking about it.
Galaria slammed both hands on the table.
Galaria: "I refuse to accept that ending. The Supreme Being should have apologized to the first guy. A formal apology. In writing."
Nytheria: "Agreed. Imagine forgetting to write someone's entire destiny. That's an absurd administrative failure."
Chrona took a measured sip of water.
Chrona: "Technically, if destiny governs causality, the resulting consequences would have been catastrophic regardless of an apology. An apology doesn't undo a thousand years of accumulated grief."
Reno blinked.
Reno: "Why do I feel like I've wandered into a philosophy lecture?"
Noctyra pointed her chopsticks at him.
Noctyra: "Because you cried during the movie."
Reno: "I DID NOT CRY—"
Noctyra: "You absolutely did."
Reno: "I had dust in my eyes."
Noctyra: "We were inside a theater."
Reno: "Air-conditioning dust."
Noctyra: "That isn't a real category of dust."
Reno: "It's a very real category—"
Sariya: "He cried during the storm scene specifically."
Reno: "Sariya—"
Sariya: "And again during the wedding."
Reno: "That's classified information—"
Sariya: "And the kite string at the end."
Reno: "OKAY. Fine. I cried. The kite string broke me. I have no defense."
The whole table erupted.
Even the Mother Goddess was smiling — small, but present.
Aerion looked down at his half-finished drink, quieter than the rest of the table.
Aerion: "The movie was surprisingly beautiful."
Arora glanced at him.
Arora: "You liked it?"
Aerion: "I did."
She smiled — soft, genuine.
Arora: "Me too."
Aelira leaned forward suddenly.
Aelira: "My favorite part was when Kirito carried Nadiya after she injured her leg. The way he didn't make a single comment about it. He just picked her up and kept walking like it was the most natural thing in the world."
Galaria grinned.
Galaria: "Oh? Someone has a soft spot for romance."
Aelira: "I — I simply appreciated the craftsmanship of the scene—"
Galaria: "Sure."
Aelira: "I did."
Galaria: "I believe you completely."
Aelira: "You don't sound like you believe me."
Galaria: "I'm choosing my tone very carefully to suggest otherwise while saying words that suggest I agree."
Aelira: "That's needlessly complicated."
Galaria: "It's an art form."
Lyria turned to Aerion.
Lyria: "What about you? Favorite scene?"
Aerion thought about it for several seconds. Genuinely. The table waited.
Aerion: "The ending."
Everyone looked at him.
He continued, quieter:
Aerion: "The idea that two people can create their own destiny together, even if the universe forgot to write one for them. That nobody is really unwritten if someone else is willing to write alongside them." He shrugged slightly. "I liked that."
Several goddesses went unusually quiet.
Arora simply looked at him.
Then she smiled — soft, private, the kind that wasn't performing for the table.
Arora: "I like that idea too."
· · ·
⟡ Dinner
Eventually, everyone began eating. The table filled with plates, the atmosphere settling back into its natural chaos.
Reno ate with enthusiasm. Then paused mid-bite, struck by something.
Reno: "You know what?"
Everyone looked at him.
Reno: "Soka and Tanya's acting was genuinely incredible. Like — I knew they were both talented but I didn't know that was in either of them."
Aerion nodded.
Aerion: "They did a great job."
Then he blinked, something occurring to him.
Aerion: "Actually — I want to contact Soka."
Reno stopped chewing.
Reno: "Huh?"
Aerion: "It's been a really long time. Years."
Reno reached into his pocket without ceremony and produced a phone, setting it on the table.
Reno: "No problem. I already have his number."
Aerion looked at the phone.
For reasons he couldn't immediately place, it felt strangely familiar — not the model, something about the specific worn texture on the corner, a small crack near the camera that he could almost picture from a different angle.
Aerion: "...This phone."
Reno: "What about it?"
Aerion shook his head, trying to dislodge the sensation.
Aerion: "Nothing. It just feels familiar."
He let it go.
Reno grinned and pressed the call button.
The table quieted.
Ring.
Ring.
Ring.
Nothing.
Ring.
Ring.
Still nothing.
Reno sighed.
Reno: "He's probably busy—"
Click.
The call connected.
A voice exploded from the speaker at a volume that made several people physically flinch.
Soka's voice: "AERION YOU BASTARD! YOU FINALLY REMEMBERED YOUR FRIEND AFTER ALL THESE YEARS?!"
Aerion's eyes went wide.
Aerion: "What?!"
Soka's voice: "DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW LONG I'VE BEEN TRYING TO CONTACT YOU?!"
Aerion blinked several times. Looked at Reno.
Aerion: "How does he know I'm here?"
Reno looked at him like the answer was obvious.
Reno: "Because this is your phone and your number."
Silence.
Aerion looked at the phone again. Slower this time.
Aerion: "...My phone?"
Reno: "Yes."
Aerion: "My number?"
Reno: "Also yes."
Aerion: "Why do you have my phone?"
Reno: "You gave it to me."
Aerion: "When?"
Reno: "Years ago."
Aerion: "I did?"
Reno sighed with the patience of someone explaining something for the second time, despite this being the first.
Reno: "Your memory really did get wiped completely, didn't it."
Aerion: "Apparently."
Reno: "You gave it to me before you left. Said you didn't want to lose contact with anyone if you came back wrong. I've been answering it for him every time someone calls and explaining you're missing." He gestured at the phone. "This is genuinely the first time I've gotten to answer it and have the actual answer be different."
Meanwhile, Soka was still talking — uninterrupted, the specific cadence of someone who has been holding this energy for a very long time.
Soka's voice: "Brother, do you know how many times I tried to contact you? You just disappeared. How are you? Are you okay? Did something happen? Say something! Why are you so quiet?!"
Reno laughed.
Reno: "Whoa, whoa. Slow down."
Silence on the line.
Soka's voice: "...Reno?"
Reno: "Yeah."
Soka's voice: "You're calling from Aerion's number?"
Reno: "Yep."
A few seconds passed.
Soka's voice, quieter:** "**...Wait."
More silence.
Soka's voice: "Does that mean you still haven't found him?"
Reno grinned — the specific mischievous grin that anyone who knew him would have immediately recognized as a setup.
Reno: "Yeah, man. Never found him."
Everyone at the table looked at him.
Reno: "Probably never will, honestly."
Sariya smacked his shoulder hard.
Reno: "Ow—"
Sariya: "Why are you teasing him?! He's been worried this entire time—"
Reno: "Alright, alright—"
Sariya: "I mean it. Stop."
Aerion reached across and took the phone from Reno's hand.
Aerion: "Brother."
Silence on the line.
Aerion: "How are you?"
Nothing. Just breathing — uneven, the specific sound of someone processing something quickly.
Soka's voice, small, almost cracking:** "...B-bro?"
Aerion: "Yeah."
Soka's voice: "You're really — that's really you?"
Aerion smiled.
Aerion: "It's me."
A long pause.
Then —
Soka's voice: "YOU IDIOT!"
Everyone jumped.
Soka's voice: "Do you have any idea how worried I was?! Years, Aerion! YEARS!"
Aerion laughed.
Aerion: "Sorry."
Soka's voice: "No! You don't get to apologize that quickly and have it just be fine! I deserve a longer apology! A proper one!"
Reno was already laughing.
Aerion: "Okay. I'm extremely sorry. Genuinely. I missed you."
Soka's voice, softening considerably:** "...Yeah. I missed you too. So much."
A pause.
Soka's voice: "Where are you?"
Aerion: "We're in South Korea."
Silence.
Soka's voice: "...No way."
Aerion: "What?"
Soka's voice: "I'm in South Korea too."
Everyone at the table blinked.
Aerion: "No way."
Soka's voice: "Yes way."
Reno laughed loudly.
Reno: "What are the chances—"
Soka's voice, suddenly very excited, the words coming fast:** "Come to my house. Right now. Both of you. Everyone you're with. We'll catch up properly, in person, not through a phone—"
Aerion: "Right now?"
Soka's voice: "RIGHT NOW. And I have a surprise for you."
Reno grinned.
Reno: "Oh?"
Soka's voice: "You'll see."
Reno stood.
Reno: "Alright then." He looked around the table. "We're going."
· · ·
⟡ Transportation
Velmira took out her phone. Made a call. Said very little — the specific brevity of someone who is used to being obeyed without elaborating.
Two minutes later, six black Rolls-Royce Phantoms pulled up along the street.
Everyone stared.
Reno looked at the cars. Then slowly at Aerion.
Reno: "Do goddesses just enjoy flexing wealth, or is this a deeper psychological need?"
Aerion sighed.
Aerion: "Honestly—" He looked at the six cars. "—I think it might be both."
Galaria smiled with considerable pride.
Galaria: "We have standards."
Reno: "Those standards cost millions of dollars."
Galaria: "Correct."
Reno: "That's not — that's not a counterargument, that's just confirming the problem—"
Galaria: "I don't see a problem."
Reno: "Of course you don't."
· · ·
Everyone began loading into the cars.
Unfortunately for Aerion, his vehicle became, almost immediately, a contested territory.
Arora sat beside him first.
Then Aelira entered.
Then Galaria.
Then Lyria.
Then Seraphyna, who looked at the situation, assessed the available space with the precision of someone calculating a logistics problem, and got in anyway.
Aerion looked around the car with rising alarm.
Aerion: "There are too many people in here."
Galaria ignored him entirely and sat directly beside him.
Arora claimed his other side immediately, with the speed of someone who had been anticipating exactly this competition.
Lyria, finding the remaining space insufficient for her standards, sat partially on his lap.
Aerion froze completely.
Aerion: "A — are there no other seats?"
Lyria: "No."
Aerion: "There are literally two empty seats in the back row—"
Lyria: "No, there aren't."
Aerion: "I can see them from here—"
Lyria: "There aren't."
Aerion: "Lyria—"
Lyria: "There simply aren't."
Seraphyna settled in beside him with calm efficiency.
Aelira sighed — the specific sigh of someone accepting an inevitability — and found her own place close beside him as well.
Aerion was now, comprehensively, trapped.
He couldn't move his arms more than a few inches in any direction.
Reno looked through the window from outside. Took in the entire situation. Burst into laughter.
Reno: "I have never in my life seen someone get kidnapped this peacefully."
Aerion: "Help me."
Reno: "No."
Aerion: "Brother."
Reno: "No."
Aerion: "Please."
Reno: "No."
Sariya, climbing into a different car entirely:
Sariya: "You look very comfortable."
Aerion: "I CAN'T FEEL MY LEGS."
The laughter from outside the car was loud enough that several people in the adjacent vehicle leaned over to see what was happening.
· · ·
⟡ Arrival
The house, when they arrived, had the specific warmth of a place that has been lived in genuinely — not staged, not performed, just home.
Reno approached the door first.
Ding dong.
Three seconds passed.
The door opened.
A man stood there.
For a moment — nobody moved.
Soka froze.
Aerion froze.
Reno froze.
Several full seconds passed in complete silence, three men simply looking at each other across a doorway that had taken years to cross.
Then Soka's eyes widened.
Soka: "...Aerion?"
Aerion smiled — slow, genuine, the smile that had been building since the phone call.
Aerion: "...Hey."
Soka: "...Reno?"
Reno: "Yo."
Silence again.
Then Soka moved — both arms out, pulling them into a hug so complete it nearly knocked all three of them off balance.
Soka: "It's been so long—"
His voice trembled — not performed, the real thing.
Soka: "No. Forget that."
He pulled back enough to look at both of them, smiling so wide it had to hurt.
Soka: "It's been years since I saw my brothers."
Aerion smiled. Said nothing — there wasn't anything that needed saying.
Reno smiled too, looking, for once, entirely without performance.
Then a dramatic voice cut through the moment from behind.
Arora: "Oh my. What a lovely reunion."
Everyone turned.
Arora had her arms crossed, expression carefully composed into mock offense.
Arora: "Am I invisible now?"
She narrowed her eyes at Soka.
Arora: "Or do you only recognize the boys?"
Soka laughed immediately.
Soka: "No, no — of course not—"
He pointed at her.
Soka: "I remember you completely."
He smiled — warm, genuine.
Soka: "How have you been? It's been just as long for you."
Arora smiled.
Arora: "I've been wonderful, actually."
Soka looked at her for a moment longer, something thoughtful crossing his expression — the specific look of someone connecting recent rumors with the person standing in front of him.
Soka: "I have questions, by the way. About a few things. We'll get to them."
Arora: "I assumed."
Then Soka finally took in everyone behind them — the goddesses, Sariya, the full procession that had arrived in six Rolls-Royce Phantoms.
He blinked.
Soka: "...And who are all these people?"
Reno grinned and pulled Soka aside with the energy of someone who has been waiting all evening to deliver this information.
Reno: "First—" He pointed at Sariya. "This is my wife."
Soka's eyebrows went up.
Soka: "You got married?!"
Reno: "Yes."
Soka: "WHEN—"
Reno: "Long story. Very good story. Involves rain and an umbrella and several years of coincidence."
Soka: "We need to discuss this fully—"
Reno: "Later."
He gestured at the goddesses.
Reno: "And those girls."
Soka: "Yeah?"
Reno smiled.
Reno: "They're Aerion's girlfriends."
Complete silence.
Soka turned slowly. Began counting.
Soka: "One. Two. Three. Four..."
He kept going.
Soka: "...Eleven."
He looked at Aerion. Then at the goddesses. Then back at Aerion with the expression of a man recalculating his entire understanding of his friend's life.
Soka: "That many girlfriends?!"
Aerion panicked immediately.
Aerion: "No — it's not like that—"
Galaria, with complete composure:
Galaria: "It absolutely is like that."
Aerion: "It isn't—"
Galaria: "It is."
Aerion: "It ISN'T—"
Velmira: "I would describe it as 'evolving.'"
Aerion: "That's not helping—"
Lyria: "I would describe it as 'established.'"
Aerion: "LYRIA—"
The entire group dissolved into laughter, Soka along with them, the specific laughter of people who have just witnessed something both ridiculous and completely sincere.
· · ·
⟡ Inside
The living room filled with people, drinks, the comfortable noise of a reunion finding its rhythm. Soka moved through it with the energy of a man hosting the most important night of his year.
Reno ate enthusiastically. Then suddenly looked up.
Reno: "You know what."
Soka: "What?"
Reno: "Tanya's acting. In the film. It was incredible."
Aerion nodded.
Aerion: "Genuinely incredible. Both of you."
Soka beamed.
Soka: "Wait until she hears you say that. She's going to be insufferable about it for a week."
Soka suddenly raised his voice toward the back of the house.
Soka: "TANYA!"
His voice echoed through the hallway.
Soka: "Come see who's here!"
A few moments passed. Footsteps approached.
A woman appeared in the doorway.
She looked at the room — the goddesses, the unfamiliar faces, the cluster of guests — and then her eyes found Aerion, then Reno, then Arora.
Her face lit up completely.
Tanya: "Wow."
She walked forward, her eyes going slightly bright.
Tanya: "It's been such a long time... my friends."
Arora smiled.
Arora: "Tanya."
Reno grinned.
Reno: "Movie star."
Tanya laughed — warm, genuine, the laugh of someone who has missed this exact dynamic.
Tanya: "And you still haven't changed at all."
Reno: "I've matured significantly—"
Tanya: "You called me 'movie star' within ten seconds of seeing me."
Reno: "That's an example of my maturity. I noticed your achievement immediately and complimented it."
Tanya: "That's not how compliments—"
Reno: "I'll workshop it."
The room filled quickly with conversation — stories, memories, the specific texture of people catching up on years simultaneously, talking over each other in the warm chaos of genuine reunion.
· · ·
Then —
Creak.
A small door at the end of the hallway opened slowly.
Tiny footsteps. Quiet, hesitant, the specific sound of someone very young who has just woken up.
Everyone turned.
A little girl walked into the room, rubbing her eyes, hair messy from sleep. She looked at Soka and Tanya with the particular trust of a child finding her parents in the right place.
Girl: "Mom..."
A yawn.
Girl: "Dad..."
Then she registered the room. All the unfamiliar faces. The noise.
She tilted her head.
Girl: "...What's happening?"
A pause.
Girl: "And who are all these people?"
Complete silence.
Soka's face transformed instantly — the host energy melting into something purely soft, purely devoted.
Soka: "Oh."
He crossed the room and gently picked her up, settling her against his hip with the easy practice of someone who has done this a thousand times.
Soka: "My little princess is awake."
The girl blinked sleepily. Looked at the room full of strangers — eleven goddesses, Reno, Sariya, Arora, Aerion — all of them staring back at her in complete, suspended quiet.
Aerion stared at her.
Then at Soka.
Then at Tanya, who had moved beside her husband and daughter with an expression of soft, proud warmth.
Nobody said anything for a long moment.
Because nobody had expected — in any of the scenarios they'd imagined for what Soka's surprise might be —
That it would be this.
A daughter.
Aerion looked at the small, sleepy face peering out at the room, completely unaware of the silence she'd caused, and felt something move through him that didn't have an immediate word.
Reno, finally, very quietly:
Reno: "...Bro."
Soka looked at him.
Reno: "You have a kid."
Soka smiled — the proudest smile any of them had seen on him all evening.
Soka: "Yeah."
A pause.
Soka: "Everyone — this is my daughter."
To be continued...