Epiphany Of The Weak 190 Derrick Jones - Major Chapter - Priorities

"What?! No, no. You got it all wrong. I..."

Aya and Miranda raised their eyebrows at me. They were waiting for an answer, and somehow, it felt like Miranda purposely turned the conversation this way so that she could escape explaining herself.

I sighed. "How do I put this... Anyway... I didn't know how to respond back then. I was unsure of my own feelings for Maltyie. It's... a bit complicated. And Elle might not like it if I decided without asking her first. After all, my life is dedicated to her, my only daughter, so she should know too... since there is a chance if I accepted, Maltyie would be Elle's new mom. Yeah..."

Miranda nodded a few times with a serious expression and said one word at the end. "Indecisive."

Aya, on the other hand, was cupping her cheeks with her mittens, eyes opened wide. Her eyes were glittering, and at some point, I had to shield my face from the blinding light her body was radiating.

"It's good that you are thinking about your daughter first, over your own feelings... But I'm sure Elle wouldn't mind it anyway," said Miranda.

My eyebrows drew together. "Huh?"

She twisted her body and continued walking down the street. "Just believe in your own feelings, Mister Derrick."

"T-That's right, Derrick! Believe in yourself!"

With the way Aya was gesticulating, the girl was clearly elated from this turn of events. Or maybe she was already in that age where girls started to become interested in romance. Then again, when I talked about Ava with her before, she somehow knew Ava was deprived of love and that poor girl needed someone to love her so badly.

And further down the line, I had grown to acknowledge Aya's obstinate confidence— where she knew a lot about her friend, Ava more than anyone. They spent little time together when they were twelve, but perhaps the experience alone was enough for her to be a judge of Ava's character.

"Derrick, let's go. Elle and Eugene are waiting for us."

Aya and Miranda were a dozen feet in front of me, and I smiled at them. It hadn't been that long but I grew attached to those two. This time, I led the three of us as we made our way to my house. We had agreed that taking Elle and Eugene to safety was our first priority.

Once we reached my neighborhood, there was still no presence of people anywhere. We looked at each other a few times and steadily walked over to my house. Miranda scouted the area first. She motioned for us to continue moving forward once she was certain no Anciles were within sight.

Even then, we didn't let our guard down and kept our eyes peeled for any movements. While we were walking, Aya and Miranda asked if we were already getting close to my house.

"It's around the corner over there," I said, gesturing to the street to our right.

"Oh..."

Aya took furtive glances at Miranda before she walked up to me. It looked like she had something to say. I raised an eyebrow at her. "Is something wrong, Aya?"

"Um..." She pulled at my jacket and her turquoise eyes looked at me from under her bangs. "I know it is a bit weird for me to say this now since we are so near to your house... but... I need to go to the bathroom. As in, right now."

"Eh?"

The three of us halted in front of a peach-colored house. Aya cast a glance at me and Miranda. "You two can go without me..."

"Then... Hmm."

"She can take care of herself. There are no Anciles around, Derrick."

"It's fine, Derrick!" said Aya with a smile.

"Miranda. You stay here with her. I'll head over there first."

Aya pouted at what I said. It seemed like she thought I couldn't believe in her abilities. But that was not the case. Aya was, more often than not, a great fighter and no one could think to put so much of a scratch on her skin.

However, a sense of trepidation took hold of me for some reason. So, as an a.s.surance, I asked Miranda to stay with her.

"What are you thinking?" Miranda asked with a low tone. She narrowed her eyes at me.

"My house has an underground bas.e.m.e.nt that I built myself. The walls are made up of coated alloys and the door leading to it is pure t.i.tanium. I made sure to give Eugene and Elle the code if anything happened while I was away."

"Ah..." Miranda shrugged. "So that's why you are so calm. I was thinking that maybe the father had given up on his little daughter."

I stared at Miranda. "That's not funny."

"Haha. Sorry, sorry! Don't mind what I just said."

Her hand waved at me dismissively and she moved over to the front door of the peach house in front of us. "Aya, I thought you can't hold it in—"

Aya dashed past her and into the house, leaving a trail of footprints on the snow. Miranda whistled with wide eyes at that. A grin formed on her face afterward, perhaps because of something lingering in her mind.

I didn't know much about Miranda except for the fact that she was forced to be an Aegis User, along with her father Hughes. She seemed close with Aya, which to me was kind of unexpected. After all, some Aegis Users I had met so far preferred to be enclosed in their own s.p.a.ce rather than conversing with other people.

As an aside, the rapid growth of Ava, both mentally and physically over the past year surprised me. Back in that Teria airship where she healed me, I almost asked her name myself due to how different she looked like.

She radiated a pleasant aura, which was the opposite of when I reunited with her in Neo Africa. No longer surrounded by her dark thoughts, Ava wore a beaming smile on her face.

When I saw Ava like that, I knew she was loved by those people around her. But she needed more love, one strong enough to banish the lingering hatred inside her.

I took a deep breath and called out to Miranda.

"The two of us will catch up with you. Don't worry."

I waved at her and made my way to the right corner of the street, then straight to my house.