Honestly, this conversation he had with Aria turned out better than Eric had initially expected.
Originally, he thought that he was going to have to throw some more breadcrumbs here and there and talk to her more about her past in order to get her to bring up about the incident that had occured on her 5th birthday.
But as expected of the protagonist's best friend, she was quick to catch on what he had said and used it to her advantage.
Now, if he doesn't screw up badly from here on out, then it should be pretty easy to gain a bit of Aria's trust from this.
Luckily, he knew exactly everything he had to do in order to not mess this up.
Aurora in the novel paved the path and did all of the grunt work for him after all.
He just needed to say something similar to what the protagonist had said when she helped Aria through her crisis, and voila.
Anyways, enough said.
"The reason why you're the only one who remembers it and nobody else does is simply really. It's because you were the only one that didn't entirely perish that day." Eric explained while acting nonchalant.
"..." Aria had no idea what Eric was trying to get at though and stared at him as though she wanted him to clarify.
"Okay, let's start off here first then. Tell me everything you remembered on that day starting from when you were at the playground with your parents all the way up until you regained your consciousness back the next day."
"...Alright." Aria took a deep breath and then recited it to the best of her abilities, "I remember when I was on the swings that day with my mom pushing me back and forth, telling me how proud she was of me for growing up so fast. My father was also nearby, recording my every move with a handheld camera so I could look back on that moment when I was older…"
Aria's expression filled with longing and sadness as she spoke of the past.
"I recall there being other parents at the playground too, all having a wonderful time with their children. Some were having picnics while their dog chased the wind. Some played tag with each other, some ran up and down the slides, and some kids even wrestled wildly on the grass, only to be yelled at by their parents afterwards. It was such a simple scene to behold, and yet it's the most memorable moment I've ever had."
Then Aria paused for a slight moment with a hesitant look on her face before continuing.
"However, while everyone was playing and having a great time without any issues at all... the world suddenly felt like it was falling away piece by piece, and the sky started to turn from a bright light blue to an instant jet black. Then, one after another, everyone else started to disappear around me."
"My parents, the families, and every living creature nearby... they all slowly evaporated into the air one by one as they struggled desperately to remain intact... until I was the only one left in that dark, desolate land."
"Eventually, I could also feel my entire body starting to break as well, and I tried desperately holding myself together, even attempting to force myself to hold onto the swing and grasping at nothing but air. However, no matter what I did, it was all entirely futile."
"...But before I had lost my consciousness and disappeared completely... I saw a bright big purple luminescent light cast over the pitch black sky, and that's when I woke up from that terrible nightmare the next day... that's all I can remember." Aria finally finished telling her story and looked back at Eric waiting for a response before realizing that her hands were tightly clenched and she quickly relaxed her grip.
Eric nodded and thought back to when he was reading about Aria's backstory back on Earth.
Everything that Aria had told him just now almost perfectly matched what Aria had told Aurora before she began searching for clues about what Aria saw.
The only thing that Aria left out in her story was that everyone involved in the incident had seemingly been teleported back to the real world after disappearing in the realm and were never the same afterward, remembering nothing of what had happened and mysteriously vanishing a few days later, never to be seen again, but that wasn't a big deal.
"The purple luminescent light that you saw, it was what protected you from entirely perishing. That was why you only fell unconcious while the rest still had their consciousness with them when they disappeared, and why you're the only one that remembers about the incident that day and didn't mysteriously disappear from this world afterwards like the rest involved." Eric pointed out.
"Oh, okay... but why did it protect me?" Aria honestly wasn't sure what she should be asking since she didn't know anything about this and therefore threw out a question in order to get some more information.
"Someone casted it in the dark realm you were in because they genuinely made a mistake in their action and felt bad about it." Eric answered truthfully.
"So a living being summoned such a thing...? And what was the mistake they made exactly?" Aria didn't hesitate to ask even more questions as she processed everything that was being said.
"Yes, there are humans that can do so. As for the mistake... well, it was by accidentially bringing you and everyone that was within a mile of the playground to the dark realm in the first place." Eric didn't bother explaining the details of how humans can do such a thing and went to where he knew would hurt the most.
And as expected, the moment he finished speaking, he saw Aria's face turn into a scowl as she gritted her teeth.
"...Let me get this straight then, the reason why so many people including my parents had disappeared from the face of this planet and are still missing to this day after that incident... was all because of a fucking mistake?!" Aria couldn't help but raise her voice in fury and banged her fist on the table as she spoke.
Even though it was such an absurdment statement that sounded like it was completely made up just like when he told her about his story minutes ago, Aria had a strong feeling that he wasn't lying about this at all.
Other than the fact that this guy knew so much about her already, the fact that he knew about the perishings before she even told her story to begin with proved to her that he was at least knowledgeable about the incident.
So hearing that the reason for her parents' disappearance, and the reason why she had lived her entire life full of misery and dismay with no support from even one of her parents growing up, was all because of a 'mistake...'
It was absolutely sickening.
She wanted to find out the person who did this to her and give them absolute hell for it, even if she knew that she'd be no match for them.
"Correct. Basically, what happened was that this individual had set up something pretty much akin to a magic teleportation array you would read about in novels or video games near the playground you were in years before you were even born, so they could enter their realm if they ever needed to for safety reasons. However, since they had forgotten about the array entirely and accidentally set it off while people were still around because their own carelessness, they ended up transporting your parents and many others into that realm instead. And since that realm was a place that quickly gnawed away at people mentally if they did not have proper protection at all times, everyone eventually went crazy and mentally got consumed by the realm, leaving nothing but only their phyiscal bodies intact." Eric briefly explained the process in layman's terms and kept it as simple and short as he could.
"..." Aria didn't say anything but became even more furious.
"Luckily, your mentality is... well let's just say that it holds together better than most under that kind of strain, and so you were able to endure it for much longer compared to everyone else and bought just enough time for the individual to realize their mistake and save you before it was too late." Eric then concluded the explanation and quietly observed Aria's reaction.
At this point, Aria was absolutely beyond fuming, and the look in her cold eyes made it seem like she was ready to kill someone at any given moment.
Even Eric couldn't help but find himself a little intimidated even though he had already expected the reaction beforehand.
But this was good.
Very good in fact.
Aria had a similar reaction in the novel as well when Aurora initially told her about everything she had learned.
The only thing left to do now was to tell her who this individual was, let her go confront them and lash them out to her heart's content, and once she decides to secretly seek her vengeance against them despite knowing that she stands no chance at all, she will likely trust him just a little more.
And that's when he'll begin dealing with Aurora once again.
'Haah, I genuinely can't wait until the day I don't have a target on my back anymore and just spend the rest of my days being a rich spoiled brat again.'
As Eric was happily thinking to himself about all the things he was going to do after this entire thing with Aurora was finally over however, he heard something come out of Aria's mouth that he hadn't expected at all.
"I'd like to ask you a favor if you don't mind me asking." After what felt like an eternity later, Aria spoke up in a surprisingly leveled tone.
"Sure, what is it?" Eric responded back.
"Take me to the the individual that's responsible for all of this..."
"And please come along with me while I confront them."