Chapter 134 ~ A Dream?


    <span style="font-weight:400">“...Karen?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Mom...!”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Tears quickly streamed down her cheeks as Karen leaped towards her mother, wrapping her arms around her waist.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Cries and sobbing filled the hospital room as Karen hugged her mother tightly for the first time in years.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Streams of apologies apanied her sobs as she buried her face to her mother’s stomach, like a child clinging onto her mother in tears.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Mom… I’m sorry… I’m sorry for treating you so badly… Even though I know how hard it must’ve been… I’m so sorry…”<span style="font-weight:400">


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Karen…”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Karen’s mother lifted up her arms, about to wrap her arms around her. But she froze midway…


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Ah… Is this… A dream… Am I… Hallucinating again…?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">A sense of disappointment, apprehension, and sadness filled her heart.


    <span style="font-weight:400">If she were to hold her… Would she realize that it was all a hallucination…? Would her arms go through her daughter…? Or would she disappear and wake her up from this dream…?


    <span style="font-weight:400">She was afraid… She was genuinely afraid of waking up from this dream.


    <span style="font-weight:400">It felt so real… So vivid… She could even feel her dear daughter’s warmth. It was the realest dream she had ever had… Even Refrain couldn’t give her such vivid dreams.


    <span style="font-weight:400">What if she woke up from such a wonderful dream and returned to her painful reality…?


    <span style="font-weight:400">Her heart raced in fear… Her breath became heavy andbored.


    <span style="font-weight:400">She didn’t want to return to reality now… She did not want to part with her daughter.


    <span style="font-weight:400">But in the end, she gave in. She… She had missed her daughter too much to not hold her in her arms.


    <span style="font-weight:400">If it was a dream… At least give her a fraction of a second to feel her daughter’s warmth in her hand.


    <span style="font-weight:400">If she could… it would give her the energy and will to live on a little longer and watch over her.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Slowly, and shakingly, she wrapped her arms around her daughter, pulling her into her embrace.


    <span style="font-weight:400">And with a heavy sigh, relief filled her heart when she could feel her warmth and not wake up from this wonderful dream.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Ahh… It feels so real…”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Truly… What a wonderful and incredible dream.


    <span style="font-weight:400">It felt… even more realistic than how she fantasized hugging her grown up daughter would be.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Thest time she had embraced her… It was when she was still just a little thing. And since then, she had been imagining how it would feel like to hug her daughter in her arms when she had grown up as she watched her from afar.


    <span style="font-weight:400">She had grown into such a beautiful, young woman. A strong, independent woman she couldn’t be more proud of.


    <span style="font-weight:400">It was an unfamiliar sensation. But… It felt right.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Finally… even if this was a dream… She could embrace her dear daughter in her arms.


    <span style="font-weight:400">For so many years… She had only been able to watch her from afar. Praying she would lead a happy, plentiful life. Praying she would find a man who would love her dearly. Praying she would live a life unlike hers.


    <span style="font-weight:400">As long as she could watch her precious little daughter live in happiness, she was content. Even if she had to depend on a drug like Refrain to keep her sanity for just a bit longer. It was all worth it.


    <span style="font-weight:400">All she hoped for… was that her body and mind would hold on at least until she could see her daughter walk down the aisle with an amazing man who loved her and treasured her even half as much as she does. And perhaps… even lived to see her grandchild.


    <span style="font-weight:400">She wouldn’t dare hope for something more like walking her down the aisle as her mother or holding her grandchild. After all, the pain and disappointment of even hoping for such an impossible dream would most likely push her over the edge.


    <span style="font-weight:400">But now… Even if it was a dream, her daughter was here… In her embrace.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Her arms, which she thought could only be useful to make sure her daughter could live in a clean roomfortably, were now embracing her, just like how she used to.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Tears slowly fell down the corner of her eyes… And it continued flowing down into a never ending stream.


    <span style="font-weight:400">At this moment… For the first time in years, Akane Kozuki burst into tears before her daughter.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Aahh… Thank you…”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Her trembling lips curled into a smile as she leaned down and rested her face on Karen’s head, kissing it and rubbing her head, just like how she used to every night to help her sleep.


    <span style="font-weight:400">The scent of her hair, of her dear daughter, entered her nose, and the nostalgia brought her into tears even more.


    <span style="font-weight:400">It was really Karen. Her dear daughter.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Thank you… Thank you for showing me this dream… Thank you…”


    <span style="font-weight:400">The tears she had only shed when she was alone in the small, dark, servant chamber within the Stadfeld mansion at night…


    <span style="font-weight:400">All the pain and sadness she had endured ever since her son’s death, her separation from her husband, and the living hell she suffered under Mrs. Stadfeld. All just to be by her daughter’s side…


    <span style="font-weight:400">Everything simply burst through the damn she had built painstakingly in her heart to protect herself from the harshness of reality.


    <span style="font-weight:400">For the first time in so long, Akane Kozuki could finally hold her dear daughter tightly, using every ounce of strength she could muster from within her feeble arms to hold onto her dearly, as if it was thest time she could hold her.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“God… Please… Just a little more… Just give me a bit more time… I know I need to wake up early to start doing theundry… But please… God… Just a little more… Please… Don’t let me wake up from this dream…”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Mom… I’m sorry… I’m sorry…!”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Karen hugged her mother tightly before pushing herself away from her mother’s embrace and held her shoulders, looking her straight in the eyes, and shook her awake.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“This is not a dream, mom…! I’m here…! I’m sorry…! I’m sorry for ignoring you…! I’m sorry for all the cruel things I’ve done to you… I… I love you… Mom…”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Eh…? Karen…?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Akane froze in shock as her eyes now finally focused on the crying figure of her daughter before her.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Her hands slowly lifted up towards Karen’s face, trembling. And when she cupped her face, Karen ced her hand on top of hers and leaned on her mother’s hands.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“It’s you…? Is this… real…?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">This warmth… This sensation of her daughter’s smooth skin on her rough, calloused hands.


    <span style="font-weight:400">This was… real?


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Yes! I’m really here…! Mom… I’m here… I’m home… And I will never… leave your side… ever again…”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Karen wrapped her arms around her mother once more and held her tightly. And slowly, Akane began wrapping her arms around her daughter as well.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Ah… Karen…”


    <span style="font-weight:400">The fear of this bliss being a dream and waking up to the harsh reality had not disappearedpletely.


    <span style="font-weight:400">After all… This was simply too good to be true.


    <span style="font-weight:400">However… if this was real… Thens she wouldn’t want to miss this chance.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Akane held her dear daughter tightly, even more tightly now, and said the words she had been yearning to tell her.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Ahh… My dear daughter… I’ve missed you… So much… You’ve grown up so well… You’re so beautiful… I’m so proud of you…”


    <span style="font-weight:400">If this was reality… Then the heavens must’ve finally rewarded her for enduring all the hell she had to suffer all these years.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I’m sorry for not being able to be a good mother to you… I did my best, Karen… But all I can do… Was watch over you from afar… I’ve missed you. I’ve missed you so much… I love you, Karen…”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Mom… I’ve missed you too…! I love you too, mom…!”


    <span style="font-weight:400">She will not let her go ever again… Not now after she had finally had her in her embrace once again.


    <span style="font-weight:400">This time… They will not let anyone separate them from each other ever again.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Yuuji watched silently with a smile gracing his lips as the mother and daughter, who had been separated for years by the death of a loved one and circumstances, finally reunited in each other’s arms.


    <span style="font-weight:400">And silently, using his gravity magic to create a vacuum of space around him to block all sounds he’d make, Yuuji slowly made his way out of the hospital room and gave his beloved and her mother the privacy they deserved.


    <span style="font-weight:400">--------------------------------X--------------------------------


    <span style="font-weight:400">Yuuji waited in the lobby of the hospital, attracting interested gazes, longing looks, and charmed stares as usual.


    <span style="font-weight:400">It had been an hour since he left Karen and her mother to their own privacy. Meanwhile, he had been working on “Ai”, his Artificial intelligence program which was essentially the dream AI program that could only exist in fiction.


    <span style="font-weight:400">An AI with the emotional intelligence and expression infinitely close to a real human, yet with the intelligence and capabilities surpassing that of any existing advanced technology.


    <span style="font-weight:400">It was a technology that shouldn''t have existed in worlds such as his, Lelouch, or any members of the group chat. And he was only able to aplish this thanks to his Programming Proficiency, his MCGX Supeputer, and the blueprint for the super advanced AI he bought from the Group Chat Shop.


    <span style="font-weight:400">He was very excited to finallyplete it and meet “Ai” for the first time. But just as he was typing away on his keyboard, his phone rang.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Hello.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">[“*Sniff* Yuuji… Where are you…?”]


    <span style="font-weight:400">The sound of sniffing and the clogged voice of Karen resounded from the other side of the phone.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I’m in the lobby. I thought to give you and your mom privacy for a bit.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">[“I see… Thank you… Uhm… Can youe here…? We still need to talk about that.”]


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Of course. I’ll be right there.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">[“Uhn…”]


    <span style="font-weight:400">Yuuji closed his phone, put the supeputer back into his <Inventory>>, and made his way back to the hospital room Karen’s mother was in.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Upon arriving, Yuuji knocked on the door and announced his arrival.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Karen, it’s me.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“U-Uhn! C-Come in.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Please excuse me.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Yuuji opened the door and entered.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Just like before, a beautiful woman sat on the hospital bed before him. But this time, Karen was also there with her as they held each other’s hand tightly.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Her eyes no longer held the dullness of a dead fish’s eyes. They were shimmering brightly, full of life, hope, and happiness. Tear marks streamed down the side of her face, but she looked much more vibrant than before.


    <span style="font-weight:400">She looked like apletely different person. And the sight brought a smile to Yuuji’s face.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Upon seeing him, Akane froze with her eyes wide open and her jaws ckened.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Like someone who had just witnessed a breathtaking view of nature or seeing something for the first time she never knew she loved, Akane looked at the most handsome man she had ever seen in her entire life in disbelief.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“K-K-Karen… I-I-is this… really him…? Is he the one you’re talking about…?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Akane whispered to her daughter’s ears in disbelief. And when Karen nodded her head shyly with a huge blush on her cheeks, Akane became even more surprised.


    <span style="font-weight:400">While Karen was telling her about Yuuji and how they became a couple, she was imagining a nice half-Japanese boy with slightly above average appearance who transferred into Ashford academy.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Judging by how this “Yuuji” got along with everyone, even the Britannian students, and was very popr, Akane thought he might even have quite the stunning looks in addition to his strong character and moral principles.


    <span style="font-weight:400">But this… This is beyond her wildest imagination…!


    <span style="font-weight:400">How…?! Wait no… Perhaps… This was to be expected…! Her daughter was so beautiful on the outside and inside that even a young man with such a level of appearance fell in love with her!!!


    <span style="font-weight:400">Upon seeing Karen’s adorable gesture, Yuuji’s lips curled into a dazzling smile, charming the maturedy and mother of two who sat on the hospital bed with her daughter’s hands still held in hers.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Then with an elegant and respectful bow, Yuuji introduced himself to his future mother-inw.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“It is a pleasure to finally meet you, Ms. Kozuki. Please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Tsubakihara Yuuji, and I have the pleasure to date you dear daughter, Karen. I’m pleased to see you have recovered.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“...”