As Maxi walked alongside his maid, he noticed her discomfort—her tail was awkwardly trapped between the fabric of her uniform.
Maxi thought, "She looks uncomfortable or unsettled. I should probably do something to help her, or at least make her feel better. I don't like seeing those kinds of expressions on kids."
Maxi thought for a while before he came up with an idea. "Oh wait, don't girls like children? So if I hold her hand, would it make her feel better?"
Maxi then thought for a little bit longer. "I think I may be generalizing due to me seeing my wife and female coworkers go crazy over babies, but I will take the risk. Plus, if she doesn't like it, I can let go."
"Funny how this would be a completely different story if I was an adult. Oh, children and their privileges."
He sighed and reached for the edge of her sleeve, giving it a small tug.
The maid, lost in thought, flinched at the sudden contact. "Huh?" she let out a soft noise of surprise, glancing down at him. Maxi, however, didn't react—his gaze remained fixed forward as he continued walking. She shook her head, letting the moment pass, and silently followed him down the hallway back to his room, as the tension in her body eased just slightly.
Maxi then continued to dwell in his thoughts. "Looks like three definitely holds some kind of significance. Because the king of kings, as they called him, made three oldest gods. The oldest gods made three types of new gods. There are three dimensions, when there could have been seven or five if I include the three oldest gods and the king of kings. And there are also three sections of the afterlife: the Thousand Spiraling Hells, the Grave, and Heaven. But I don't think that really counts, since you can also ascend and become a new god with your god, whatever that means. But also, the eldritch gods made three planets on their own in the Thousand Spiraling Hells. The rest were apparently the pieces of what was left of the oldest gods' planets. So after all that, it definitely seems like three holds some kind of significance."
"Which means my theory may be true."
Maxi then looked at his three-eyed symbol.
"I, or my gods, hold some kind of great significance."
"If it was me, then why did my father call me pathetic? Maybe he didn't understand it, so he thought it was useless, or maybe something else. Maybe it is my gods that are significant. Maybe they're really strong. Maybe they are really famous among the gods, or… maybe they're even the three oldest gods themselves. I did feel three divine presences that day, so maybe—"
Maxi then quickly shook his head out of his fantasies as he breathed out. He was kind of excited to know now.
"Maybe next time I meet Tengen, I should ask him who my gods are."
So Maxi then nodded as he put away all his thoughts to the back of his mind, as he thought of other things.
He then reminisced and thought of his family.
Emily, his daughter. Shy, kind-hearted, and too trusting for her own good.
Then there was his son. Brave, sharp, and naturally skeptical of others—a leader in the making, but like an ember of flame, he needed to be cultivated right; otherwise, his sharpness could lead him to push people away out of suspicion, or his bravery could be taken advantage of. Because it doesn't matter if you're the sharpest or most suspicious man alive; people who want to ruin you and take advantage of you will always find a way to get through, especially if your suspicion and sharpness are purely out of instinct, not experience.
Hopefully, both of them will stick together and learn on their own that blood is thicker than water, and learn that their unconditional love is way better than any other kind of love they can find anywhere else.
Maxi truly wished he could have stayed a little bit longer, so he could teach them more, and so they could also teach him what it truly means to be a father. He had all the knowledge on how to be a father from his father and his other older friends who had kids. He knew what it meant, but he wasn't able to experience what it meant himself.
That feeling of losing out on that made him feel kind of hollow, like there was a hole or void purposely created in his body that he wasn't even supposed to notice. Because of the amount of time he spent with his kids, he didn't have to notice. He didn't have to notice how fast or slow it was being filled because, at the end of the day, it was being filled. But now that the time he spent with them and the experiences he had with them were gone, it was now blatantly obvious to him that he had a hole and void in his chest that only his kids could fill with their laughter and joy.
Maxi sighed, but as he did, a smile started to appear on his face.
He looked up in no particular direction.
He thought of that girl that he saved, and how happy her parents would be, seeing their baby girl home.
The thought of him dying the way he wanted made him smile.
Dying saving a life, changing people's lives in turn—being a hero is all he ever wanted to do. The fact he was able to do that made his soul feel complete, and mellowed out the pain of the hole in his chest with the bandage of an otherworldly satisfaction and completeness.
His mind then drifted back to the main reason for his deep thoughts.
His family.
He had already thought about his kids, and now there was one person left.
His
wife…
Maxi frowned. His wife wasn't conventionally beautiful. She wasn't stunning or breathtaking either. No, she had cute, soft features, warm eyes. She had been around his height, but she tended to lower herself with the way she stood due to wanting to stay as small as possible, so she could hide behind him.
He had asked her why she did this, and her response was, "I find comfort in your shadow." But besides all that, it wasn't why he loved her.
There was a long pause as Maxi truly started to think.
Wait, why did I love her?
"Young Master… we're here. You can let go of me now."
His maid's voice pulled him from his thoughts. Blinking, he realized he was still holding onto the fabric of her sleeve. Nodding, he released it. She stepped forward, opening the door to his room, and he entered without a word, climbing onto his bed. Without hesitation, he grabbed the book he had left unfinished earlier, flipping it open.
The maid stood by the door. "Young Master, do you need anything?"
Maxi's eyes widened.
It was because she needed me, he thought.
He slammed his book onto the fabric of his bed in shock at his revulsion.
The realization slipped from his lips before he could stop it.
"It was because she needed me."