Koji's shock slowly dissipated, for now the emotion most prevalent in his mind was confusion; followed by still a little shock.
"U-uhm Master Lin, why is she crying?"
Lin had a serious expression now, and he sighed.
"She thinks she hurt you too badly."
Koji's face contorted in surprise; if this is true, inherently that means she is crying because she feels bad. Koji had no idea such a demon could feel bad for others. After all, she seemed to be filled with violence and hatred. Along with some madness.
"S-so what am I supposed to do?"
Lin brought his hand up to his face, as if he was exasperated by Koji's childish obliviousness; of course, he knew it would be natural for a six year old to be like this. Well, little did he know Koji was not six, rather he was now 21 if you count his previous life's years and his years on this world. But this had a slight problem, because he has yet to actually experience the life and stress an adult has to go through; therefore he is still a bit of a child.
"Nothing, she gets mad if anyone tries to help her; just sit there and wait until she apologizes."
Lin said, it was obvious this was not the first time he's witnessed Ivory's eccentric behavior.
Koji nodded, he decided to not speak further as he knew it would be irrelevant.
'So she's crying cause she feels bad that she hurt me? Well then why would she hit me so hard? Actually, there is a probable cause for this; she has to sit there everyday experiencing the might of her father, who she probably looks up to a good bit. Since she admires him, naturally she would want him to admire her. So maybe she feels the need to prove that she's strong to him...'
'But that's not all, because with admiration comes jealousy. Maybe she's jealous of his strength too and wants to become stronger than him, and she wants him to know it. Well, I also don't know how women are really treated in this world so maybe she wants to defy societies view on women.'
'Actually, that is unlikely considering her age...'
Koji thought of many possibilities for why she was so violent, and actually his speculations were correct.
Of course, he didn't know this.
Really Ivory? You're crying cause you hurt him? Don't be such a baby!
Ivory said to herself as she continued to sob, although the tears were unwanted they kept flowing out like a river. She didn't want to cry, but for some reason she couldn't help it. In truth, she hated seeing other people in a pitiful state of pain, however the need to prove herself to her father overrode that hatred. She wanted to be strong like him, but not only that; she wanted him to look up to her.
Eventually, the river stopped flowing; the sadness transformed into the familiar embarrassment she usually faced upon crying in front of people.
She gulped, and then slowly looked up at Koji and Lin; she knew that she had to apologize.
"I'm sorry for kicking you so hard, K-Koji."
But as she said his name a hint of warmth spread throughout her mind.
His name is kind of pretty...
She couldn't help but think to herself.
Koji's sense of surprise gradually settled down; overall, he was pleased with her apology.
"Thanks Ivory."
He smiled slightly, of course his confusion wasn't completely subsided; nor was his curiosity.
Lin frowned as Koji said this.
"When someone says they are sorry you're supposed to say its okay and that you forgive them; especially if it's a woman."
Koji rolled his eyes and slightly grumbled, personally he didn't value respect at all; but he still was able to see how it would matter to others of course.
"It's okay Ivory, I forgive you..."
Lin's frown became the contradiction of it, instead now being a smile. His tan skin shining in the sunlight; his broad figure now not being so scary due to his personality.
"You two are kids, so you should get to know each other. I'll leave both of you alone for a bit."
But he gave Koji a look before he started to walk off, his eyes slightly narrowing and his face twisting to that of seriousness. Of course, Koji instantly got the hint. He would not try anything on Ivory; in fact he didn't plan to in the first place. After all, she was only a kid.
After Lin was gone, Koji looked at Ivory awkwardly. The sun was still out and the birds chirps could be heard as they flied in the sky; their wings flapping in the graceful light of the sun.
Ivory's perspective of this situation was not much different, if anything she was even more unaware of what to do.
Of course, silence always lead to one thing with Koji; that was his own mind. He was now in his own mind, the physical world drifting away like a kayak in the flow of a river.
'Girls on earth would never act like this around me, and I know that she isn't comfortable around me really but at least she isn't screaming to Lin for help or anything...'
This situation reminded him of a similar one that he experienced back on earth.
'That girl, Sil... Such a bitch.'
Back on earth, Koji's uncle had a friend and would take Koji and his sister to the house of his friend whenever he decided to go. So usually, Koji would play with his sister there; but this time his sister didn't come because she was at an event.
So he was left alone with the friends daughter; who was never there before because of their family issues that Koji naturally knew nothing about. But contradictory to Koji's optimistic expectations of interacting with a girl his age, it was an absolute nightmare.
Before he could even say hi to her she ran away from him; not only that but she would ignore him if he tried to interact with her. In fact, she even screamed the third time he tried to talk to her.
He remembered it clearly.
The sun was setting, the sky was no longer just blue. Instead a shade of pink, purple, and orange was cast over it; below the sky was where the lawn of the house was.
Where Koji stood in front of the girl and her dad.
She had long, brown hair and hazel eyes. She was not the prettiest girl, but she was also not ugly.
"Daddy! He keeps harassing me."
She was on the verge of tears, and her father was pissed at Koji for this but tried to keep his anger in check.
"What did he do honey, tell me."
She quickly regained her composure, promptly answering her father.
"He's just.. He's just ugly! He scares me to be around, I can't stand it daddy!"
But before he could recall any further memories, he was interrupted by Ivory.
"Let's play a game!"
She was now smiling, her bright demeanor shining just like the sun in the sky.
Koji snapped out of his daze, coming back to reality and looking at Ivory in a newfound curiosity.
"What game?"
He had no idea what type of games kids would play on this world, but he hoped they were fun.
"Run!"
He raised an eyebrow, what did she just say? Run? What kind of game would be named run?
"What do you do?"
His hopes for this game were not very high at all.
"Well, you have to run after me and tap me with your hand, and then you have to run away and stop me from tapping you!"
Koji instantly recognized the premise of this game.
'So it's just tag with a way less creative name, okay.'
He didn't like tag much, but he really had nothing to do currently so he just decided to participate.
"When do we start?"
Ivory's smile brightened even more, now she was in a completely playful mood; her earlier seriousness completely forgotten.
"Now!"
She turned around, her long white hair swaying as she did and she ran away from him while giggling.
Koji was slightly surprised at her sudden movement, but he soon followed.
She was very fast, so fast that Koji was unable to catch up to her.
But then she purposely started to slow down to give him a chance.
"Slowpoke!"
She said while still giggling, although she may be serious at times she was still a child after all.
Koji felt a feeling of warmth that he hadn't felt in awhile engulf him; there was nothing to worry about right now. He was just playing a game, with a girl. Something he never even had the chance to do in his previous life.
His dream, death, trauma, his own thoughts; they all took a step back for this moment. This moment of joy that he could experience without any worries.
He ran faster, his breathing getting gradually heavier; his legs gradually feeling lighter. On the verge of falling down, he finally tapped Ivory. But he was completely out of breath now.
Ivory wasn't angry at being tapped, instead she seemed to be even more cheerful. But that didn't stop her from participating in the game.
But Ivory ran over and instead of tapping him she tackled him to the ground, both their small bodies falling into the thick grass.
She rolled off of him and giggled, looking at the sky. He was still affected by the previous action of her tackling him, but not for very long.
He also looked up at the sky. The vast, boundless sky; he then looked over at Ivory who was also catching her breath; her pale face and dark green eyes contrasting nature perfectly. With her eyes matching the grass and the trees, and her white hair and pale skin resembling the light of the beautiful sun.
'This... This is how it should always be.'
That was his only thought, there was no internal debate this time. Nothing besides that; something that he was completely confident in.