Kurenai looked at him as she spoke. "So, wanna co in?".
Leo looked at her as he shrugged. "Sure senpai".
He followed her into the Shinganji estate, as they both walked through the halls.
Then they both heard a voice, a female voice.
"Oh, My whose this Young Man?".
Leo turned around and saw who the voice belonged to.
She is A woman with blonde hair, and twin tails. Has green and orange eyes. Under her green eye, she has two beauty marks.
[Inster image of Shinganji Kaede]
Kurenai looked at her as she spoke. "Oh mother, this is Leo Fuuma, he was ok the mission with ".
Kaede smiled as she spoke. "Oh his friends welco to the house"
anwhile, sothing else was going through his mind.
'Ah! What the fuck! You're supposed to be dead. The only tiline you didn't die in was in RPGX, where you and Edwin had a loving relationship, but in that tiline, Nomand is one of the good guys; they are still bad guys here. What's the tiline for this?'.
Kurenai paused mid-step, glancing between Leo and her mother.
Kaede's smile lingered—warm, effortless, alive.
Leo froze for half a heartbeat.
'No… no, no, no. This is wrong.'
'You're dead in almost every branch. Public execution. Assassination. Sacrifice. Pick one.'
'RPGX was the only divergence—and even that required Edwin, Nomand defecting, and half the world burning first.'
'So why are you standing here, perfectly fine, offering tea like this is a slice-of-life route?'
Kaede tilted her head slightly, her mismatched eyes studying Leo with a knowing curiosity.
"…Ara? You're staring quite intensely. Did sothing on my face catch your interest?"
Leo snapped out of it a little too fast.
"Ah—s-sorry, ma'am. Just… surprised."
Kurenai shot him a look.
"Surprised?"
Leo coughed lightly.
"Didn't expect such a… lively atmosphere. After the mission and all."
Kaede chuckled softly, bringing a hand to her lips.
"Oh my. Flattery already? You Fuuma boys grow up fast these days."
She turned and gestured deeper into the estate.
"Co, co. You must be tired. I'll have so tea brought in."
As she walked ahead of them, Leo's eyes followed her every step.
'Her chakra flow is stable.'
'No necromancy.'
'No illusion.'
'No soul stitch.'
'She's really here.'
Kurenai leaned in slightly, lowering her voice.
"You okay, Leo? You're acting strange."
Leo hesitated, then shook his head.
"Yeah. Just… processing."
They sat in the receiving room monts later. The sliding doors closed with a soft thunk.
Kaede knelt gracefully across from Leo, pouring tea with practiced ease.
"So," she said gently, "you were on the mission with my daughter?"
Leo nodded.
"Yes, ma'am. She saved my life more than once."
Kurenai frowned.
"That's an exaggeration."
Kaede smiled wider.
"Still, I'm glad. Kurenai has a habit of carrying burdens alone."
Her gaze flicked to Leo again—sharp for just a fraction of a second.
"You, on the other hand… carry sothing much heavier than you let on."
Leo stiffened.
'She noticed.'
'She always notices.'
'That's why they kill you early in most tilines.'
He t her eyes carefully.
"…Maybe. But I'm trying to do the right thing."
Kaede's smile softened—not mockery, not suspicion.
Understanding.
"Well," she said, sliding a cup toward him, "then you're always welco in this house."
Leo wrapped his fingers around the warm porcelain.
'This tiline is already off the rails.'
'And if Kaede Shinganji is alive…'
'Then the worst events haven't happened yet.'
'…Which ans I might actually be early enough to stop them.'
Kurenai looked at how Leo was looking at her mother, as she got the wrong idea and was a bit jealous even though she didn't know why, she then whispered sothing in Leo's ear. "Leo, she's my mom and she is married, stop looking at her like that"
Leo stiffened so hard he almost spilled the tea.
He leaned back just enough and whispered back, panic tightly wrapped in his voice.
"Senpai—no—no, it's not like that."
Kurenai narrowed her eyes, clearly unconvinced.
"…Then why are you staring?"
Leo hesitated, then sighed quietly.
'Careful. Too much truth breaks the tiline. Too little makes this worse.'
He leaned in again, voice low.
"I'm not looking at her like that," he whispered.
"I'm looking at her like soone who shouldn't be alive… but is."
Kurenai blinked.
"…What?"
Before she could press further, Kaede spoke up, her tone light but precisely tid.
"Oh? Am I interrupting sothing important?"
Both of them jumped.
"N-No!" Kurenai said instantly, straightening.
Leo nodded a bit too fast. "Just… mission stuff."
Kaede smiled, sipping her tea.
"I see. Then allow to put your mind at ease, young Leo."
Her mismatched eyes t his—gently, but directly.
"I've had a long life full of near-misses, brushes with death, and… paths that could have gone very differently."
Leo's breath caught.
Kaede continued, calm and warm.
"If you're wondering why I'm still here when I 'shouldn't be'…"
"…then the answer is simple."
She set her cup down.
"This world is already changing."
Silence fell.
Kurenai looked between them.
"…Mom?"
Kaede laughed softly.
"Nothing for you to worry about, dear."
She turned back to Leo, her smile unreadable now—kind, but sharp at the edges.
"So don't carry that expression," she said.
"You're not the only one who rembers things that never happened."
Leo felt a chill crawl up his spine.
'…So she knows.'
'Not everything.'
'But enough.'
Kurenai crossed her arms, flustered.
"…Okay, now I'm officially confused."
Leo exhaled slowly, then glanced at Kurenai and whispered, half-joking to defuse the tension:
"For the record, senpai—if I were staring at soone like that, you'd definitely know."
Kurenai's face heated instantly.
"…Idiot."
Kaede smiled into her tea, thoroughly amused.
Leo then rembered sothing Kurenai said. "So, Man, you have a Husband?"
Kaede smiled as she looked at him. "Yes, his na is Edwin Cromwell"
Leo's brain blue-screened. 'Yup that's official, I am Taimanin RPGX Tiline, but Nomand is still here, which ans they have soone else running them and not Edwin and yet, things from the Old Canon are still happening, what is this Universe!'.
Leo froze.
Like—actually froze.
"…Edwin," he repeated slowly. "Cromwell."
Kaede tilted her head, amused by his tone. "That's right. You look like you've just seen a ghost."
'No,' his mind scread.
'I've seen a patch note.'
His soul promptly left his body, checked the tiline index, found nothing useful, and returned screaming.
'Okay. Okay. This confirms it. RPGX branch variables, Old Canon event flags still active, Nomand still hostile, Edwin alive but not running things—'
'—WHAT THE HELL IS THIS HYBRID BUILD?'
Kurenai frowned. "Leo? You good?"
Leo snapped back to reality, coughing lightly. "Y—yeah. Sorry. Just… didn't expect that na."
Kaede's eyes softened. "That happens a lot. Edwin has a habit of leaving impressions—sotis even on people who've never t him."
Leo winced internally.
'Oh I've t him. Multiple versions. One died tragically. One beca a final boss. One married you and retired peacefully.'
Out loud, he chose survival.
"…He sounds like a good man."
Kaede smiled warmly. "He is. Complicated. Stubborn. Kind to a fault."
Then, very deliberately:
"And soone who has also noticed the world behaving… strangely lately."
Leo's heart skipped.
Kurenai stiffened. "Mom?"
Kaede waved a hand gently. "Nothing dangerous, dear. Just… patterns. People surviving things they shouldn't. Events misaligning. Old enemies moving without their usual leaders."
Her mismatched eyes t Leo's again.
"And young n who react to nas they've never been told."
Leo swallowed.
'She knows sothing. Edwin definitely knows more. And Nomand being active ans—'
'—soone else is pulling the strings.'
Leo exhaled, rubbing the back of his neck. "Guess I'm not the only one having weird days."
Kaede chuckled. "Hardly."
She stood and gave a polite nod. "You're welco to stay for lunch, Leo Fuuma. Anyone who fights alongside my daughter is family enough for ."
Kurenai blinked. "…Mom, you don't just say that to people."
Kaede smiled knowingly. "I do when I an it."
Leo bowed instinctively. "Thank you, ma'am."
Inside his head, alarms were still blaring.
'RPGX tiline logic.'
'Canon events bleeding through.'
'Edwin alive but not in control.'
'Nomand still active.'
'Conclusion: this universe is unstable.'
'Secondary conclusion: I'm already knee-deep in it.'
Leo straightened, forcing a small grin.
'Guess I'll just have to survive long enough to figure out who broke reality.'
Leo got up as he looked at them. "I will leave now, Mom might get worried".
Kaede smiled as she spoke. "Ok, have a safe trip to the Fuuma Estate"
Leo got up, left the estate and rushed to the forest, as he scread in his head.
Leo didn't even wait for a response.
The mont the trees swallowed him and the Shinganji Estate vanished behind the leaves, he skidded to a stop, hands on his knees, breath sharp.
'ALEX! JAS!'
'WAKE. UP.'
There was a brief, ominous silence.
Then—
'—Wow, rude,' Jas' voice drawled lazily. 'I was mid–power diagnostic. What's got you screaming like the apocalypse just clocked in early?'
Alex ca in sharper, more alert.
'Your vitals spiked. Explain. Now.'
Leo straightened, eyes burning.
'Kaede Shinganji is alive.'
Pause.
A hard pause.
'…Yes?' Jas replied. 'That's called "a living person," Leo.'
'No,' Leo snapped back internally. 'She's alive in THIS tiline. Married to Edwin Cromwell. Nomand is still active. Ingrid is probably working under a new "Black-sama." This isn't Old Canon, it's not RPGX, and it's definitely not clean reboot.'
Alex went quiet for half a second longer than usual.
Then:
'Confirming hypothesis,' Alex said slowly. 'You are not in a single canonical tiline.'
Jas whistled.
'Ohhh. So it's one of those universes. Hybrid continuity. Cross-branch bleed. Soone mashed tilines together like a bad modpack.'
Leo clenched his fists.
'That ans future knowledge isn't reliable. Bad ends can still happen. Good ends aren't guaranteed. And Edwin—'
'—exists but isn't the controlling variable,' Alex finished. 'Which implies the Nomand leadership node has been replaced.'
Jas' tone darkened.
'Translation: sobody else is wearing the villain crown.'
Leo exhaled hard.
'And Ingrid knew I was Fuuma. Knew three Taimanin would be there. There's a traitor. Maybe more than one.'
Alex responded imdiately.
'Agreed. Probability of internal information leak: high.'
Jas added, quieter now,
'And if Black-sama is already observing you… congratulations, kid. You're officially a plot anchor.'
Leo looked up through the trees, sunlight filtering down like fractured code.
'So what now?'
Alex answered first.
'We adapt. You stop assuming outcos.'
Jas followed.
'And you stop holding back. Because in mixed tilines—'
There was a pause.
'—the universe tends to test the anomalies.'
Leo's jaw set.
'Fine,' he thought.
'Let it test .'
He started moving again, deeper into the forest, back toward the Fuuma Estate.
Behind him, unseen, the world kept shifting—
threads crossing, destinies misaligned, and sowhere far away, a figure marked with the letter B smiled at a screen filled with Leo's data.
The ga had changed.
And Leo was no longer just playing it.
anwhile in a different place in Gosha.
In the lab, Suiren woke up, as if she had felt a machine, and sotis on her head. "Where am I?"
"Good, the mory restore process works".
She turned to voice, as she saw dark skin man walk up
Ryuji looked at her as he spoke. "Morning, I think you have many questions"
Suiren groaned softly as her vision cleared, the sterile white lights of the lab stinging her eyes. Tubes, monitors, and sealing talismans surrounded the bed she was strapped to—but none of them felt hostile. Just… cautious.
She tested her fingers. They moved.
"…I rember fighting," she said slowly. "Fire. Water. Kurenai-senpai's voice."
Her eyes snapped to Ryuji. "And before that—darkness. Commands that weren't mine."
Ryuji stopped a few steps away, arms crossed, his expression firm but not unkind.
"That's because your mories were tampered with. You were captured, conditioned, and deployed as an asset."
Suiren clenched her teeth.
"…House of Greed."
"Yes," Ryuji replied. "And soone above them."
She swallowed, then looked down at the faint sealing marks still glowing on her wrists.
"So you didn't kill ."
Ryuji snorted once. "If we killed every Taimanin who got brainwashed, Gosha would be a graveyard."
That earned a weak, humorless huff from her.
He continued, more serious now.
"You were missing for three months. During that ti, your chakra pathways were rewritten. Obedience triggers. False loyalties. We removed what we could, but—"
He paused. "—so scars don't disappear overnight."
Suiren nodded slowly.
"…I hurt people."
"You fought them," Ryuji corrected. "There's a difference."
Silence settled between them for a mont before she finally asked the question she'd been avoiding.
"Kurenai-senpai…?"
"She's fine," Ryuji said imdiately. "Angry. Worried. Relieved. In that order."
Suiren closed her eyes, relief washing over her face—then guilt followed right after.
"…And the boy," she added quietly. "The one with the water dragon."
Ryuji raised an eyebrow. "Leo Fuuma."
Her eyes opened again.
"He wasn't supposed to be there. None of them were. The information House of Greed had—it was too precise."
Ryuji's expression sharpened.
"So you noticed."
"Yes," Suiren said. "Even while I was under control… I felt it. Like soone was feeding them mission data in real ti."
She hesitated, then added,
"And there was a woman. Pink hair. Black flas. She spoke like she already knew the outco."
Ryuji exhaled slowly.
"Ingrid. A Hell Knight."
That made Suiren stiffen. "Then this isn't over."
"No," Ryuji agreed. "It's just starting."
He turned toward the lab door, then stopped.
"You'll stay here for now. Recovery. Debrief. When you're ready, you'll talk to the elders."
Suiren looked away.
"…And Leo Fuuma?"
Ryuji glanced back, a faint smirk tugging at his lips.
"He's already causing headaches."
That, sohow, made her smile—small and tired, but genuine.
"Then," she said quietly, "tell him… thank you. Even if I didn't say it then."
Ryuji nodded once and left the room, the door sealing shut behind him.
Alone again, Suiren stared at the ceiling.
Her mories were back.
Her will was her own.
But sowhere out there, the hands that had pulled her strings were still moving.
And this ti, she intended to cut them.
To be continued
Hope people like this Ch and give Power stones this is the last Ch for this week's and also I just discovered I am what 179 in the power ranking, thanks for all the support
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