THE CURSED GAMER

Chapter 487: The True Reunion

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The light subsided and Neji found himself in the Dreamweaver's Fortress.

But that wasn't the only thing he found, he also found pristine ghostly chains wrapped around him, as well as around Lady Life and Anodi.

"What is the meaning of this?!" Lady Life asked in an offended tone.

Although she hadn't said anything earlier since Kimi was helping her flee the battle, now that she was trapped by her she had to remind herself who this was. This was the Director of the Last Act, the same woman who had been terrorizing the Cube since the beginning of its existence. The same Witch who had killed Perpetuity.

"Huh, are you going to kill us?" Anodi asked a little more directly.

"She's not," Neji said confidently, a little surprised that he felt a pressure on his will that could do anything. "She just wants to interrogate me. If I turn out to be who she thinks I am, then she'll let us be."

"Smart boy," Kimi agreed with a weary look in her eyes. "So then, what can you do to prove your claims?"

"It's better we talk in private," Neji said.

He didn't mind letting Kimi know about his circumstances. He understood from She Beyond Omnipotence's rant that the other possibility's Kimi knew about the situation, but she just refused to accept it and wanted to bring back that other Neji somehow. So it shouldn't be an issue if he let Kimi know about the entire situation.

However, the same didn't apply to these girls. Especially Lady Life. Lady Life clearly didn't know the situation, and that was why she helped Neji to begin with. And he wasn't even sure about Anodi.

"No," Kimi rejected it with a frown. "Talk here. Why must we go in private?"

"The balance of the Omniverse is at stake, that's why," he shrugged. "Don't be like this. If it's really me, you know there is only one way I could have come here. In that case, do you not understand the need for secrecy?"

"...."

She stared at him, and he stared back.

At last, she nodded. "Follow me, but you two stay here." She hesitated and pointed at the couch, "Take a seat if you want. If he truly happens not to be an enemy then I have no reason to treat you two badly."

The two women exchanged glances before nodding. The chains were powerful, but she didn't have time to cast them to their fullest potential. So if Lady Life wanted, she could break the shackles with little difficulty. But since there was a high chance that they weren't in fact enemies, there was no need to offend her.

While the two of them sat down on the couch, Kimi led him through the same path that she had dragged him the first time two years ago. This time he was being pulled by chains too, but not really dragged.

"I've missed you,"

"...."

He said and she stayed silent. Neji didn't miss the way her lips quivered.

He said a few more words on the path, but she ignored them all. They stopped in front of the same door as last time, and the two of them walked in.

Neji sighed in relief as the door closed, feeling a strong barrier blocking the sound surrounding them. Now he could be real to her. Finally, after so long.

"Who are you?" she asked directly as she faced him. "You can't be him."

The air was filled with tension and love. It was an odd mix, her doubtful gaze pierced his red eyes as he stared at her lovingly.

"I am," he said. "I'm sorry I couldn't talk last time. It's a System negative trait placed by She Beyond Omnipotence."

"...." she stared at him in silence.

"Kimi, it's really me."

"I don't trust you," she gulped. Her body was trembling. "Because... this... it feels too good to be true. I..." She took a step back, this was too much for her. In her head, there must be a catch somewhere. "It can't be true. How can it?! Things were never so easy for me, so why now? I... I am sure this is a trick. Or at best, are you some kind of clone?" She asked.

She really couldn't believe it. It has been billions of years, no, more than that, since she's been separated from him. She did a ritual to bring him here, but it had clearly brought the First Gamer. Then how?!

"What are you?" She demanded, shaking in her spot.

"How can I prove to you that it's me?" he spoke, and despite the lack of features on his face, he sounded worried.

She frowned, "Tell me everything you can to make me believe- ah." she flinched.

Before she had finished talking, with a single thought, Neji's starry body changed shape to that of a child. He now stood with short white hair and bright blue eyes that pierced all doubt. He faced her with a soft smile as she gasped.

"T-this isn't..." To her, this wasn't enough.

With another thought, screens flickered in the air behind him. Memories flashed that showed his life with her and without her. She stared in silence with her eyes slowly growing wet.

"But... is this... really..." she couldn't talk. She was too stunned to do so. Little Neji walked over to her slowly and floated up to her with soft ripples of Tremor out of his feet.

He faced her expression of disbelief with his soft, loving smile.

"I'll be hurt if you keep pushing me away, Kimi. Won't you hug me?"

"....."

In truth, there were a dozen ways in her head that this could be fake. There were a hundred reasons that she shouldn't trust him. But, when he asked that, her arms just didn't listen to her anymore.

Kimi pulled her young master into her bosom, her hands tightly holding his face against her chest as her eyes flowed like rivers and her voice shattered.

"I've missed you too," she cried. "I really have, trust me.... young master."

'Hah,' he tightened his arms around her. 'Her smell...' it hasn't changed a bit even after eons.

* * *

How long has it been since then? The walls of the room were painted bland yet beautifully white, illuminated by light that cast shadows across the room from old and magical lanterns that floated like benign spirits.

At the heart of the room lay a bed, its shape majestic and inviting, with sheets so beautiful as if it was woven from the night sky itself. On this bed, two people shared laughter between their conversations. They weren't just talking; they were connecting. Kissing, cuddling, after a long time of making love.

In the air, time energy acted weirdly from the transparent clocks gliding through. It was a spell, the gears of the clocks moving in silent harmony, their hands sweeping in a dance that affected time itself.

It had been seven years in this room.

Seven years since they have been making love to each other.

Though on the outside world, it should be merely a few days.

"So you know, in his last confession, he used some hypotonic incubus power and thought I wouldn't notice. I cast a spell to neuter him for millennia," Kimi giggled as she talked about the Demon King of the Northern Cosmos. "I'm so glad he's dead."

"Truly. I would have killed him myself if he wasn't killed by the Primordial," Neji, in a proper adult human form, his body at 6"5, said with a jealous frown.

"Aww, that's so sad," she pinched his nose with a cheeky smile. "It's so funny how he died though. The Primordial really thought he was you and killed him."

Neji held her waist and rolled positions with her, laughing as she did.

They talked about anything, everything about each other that they'd missed. She knew most of Neji's story, but he updated her on how the Director died.

"I can't judge myself, to be fair," when he told her about it, Kimi nodded. "I love you and really you. If I were presented with a past version of you now and told to sleep with him, I'd still prefer the latest you. For that reason, I'm sure it wouldn't be hard to simulate the future to keep things similar."

"Hmm, any ideas about the Maestro Myth incident?" Neji asked. "Or how we should deal with my inevitable death against the Primordial? And more importantly, how should I get stronger?"

Kimi smiled, her white teeth glittering, "I have the answer to all of them," she said. "I'll fix everything, my love. You just rest and take things easy. You go find Contessa Fate and any other girls you think the First Gamer had a relationship with. You seduce them and make them yours, while I take care of everything. You understand?"

"I'll trust you on that,"

"Good boy." She patted his head.

"Whoa," he raised an eyebrow while she broke out laughing.

"Mhm, why don't you like me calling you that?" she asked and he shrugged.

"You sounded like Nawab," he said. "Oh and, speaking of that, where is she? Isn't she supposed to be with you since, I think, she's Ddraig?"

"Oh, you know that," she blinked. "Yes, she is. You see, when I got sent to the past and my memories got scrambled, the same happened to her. I was keeping packets of memory in her head for safekeeping, and they broke. She started seeing herself as me, as Kimi, and I had a rough time fixing her. But even when I finished, I couldn't remove the memories of you, so she fell in love with you without ever meeting you. But unlike me, she's not very loyal, so she keeps reincarnating herself in all the MHA worlds in search of a Neji. That's why she isn't here but busy somewhere else."

"Ah," Neji blinked.

"Yeah, I know, crazy," she snuggled close to him. "So be careful you have someone as loyal as me, alright, boy?"

"Surely," he pulled her into a kiss which she melted into. She loved him so much, and he couldn't repay it enough.

"Mhm, I love you..."

"I love you too, my sweetest."

The two of them kissed and made love again for who knew how long. They didn't get bored of it at all.

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Here are some Kimi pictures: