Chapter 612: The Curse of the God Tongue
The silence in the room was absolute. Even Ren, a man whose composure was practically etched into stone, found himself momentarily caught off guard. Erina simply stood there, her violet eyes blinking in a slow, uncomprehending rhythm as the words failed to process in her mind. Courage, breaking the frozen tableau, whipped her head toward her fellow WGO inspector. "Decora! What exactly is going on here?"
Courage knew full well that Decora—having returned with Nakiri Mana to finalize the WGO's remaining affairs—had to be privy to this. But a secret of this magnitude? It defied all logic. Lucifer narrowed her crimson eyes at the trembling blonde girl, then shifted her heavy gaze to the WGO Book Master. "Mana," she demanded, her voice a low, commanding rumble. "Explain yourself. What is the meaning of this?"
The sharp inquiry seemed to snap Erina back to reality. Her pristine facade crumbled, replaced by a raw, suffocating grief. "Mo... Mother... why?" Her voice cracked, tears welling up and threatening to spill. "Are you still unwilling to accept me? Is it... is it because I'm not good enough?!"
Alice stepped forward, her usual teasing demeanor vanishing in a flash of fierce protectiveness. "Aunt Mana! I know I always call Erina an idiot, but she's amazing! She's already secured a seat in the Elite Ten!"
Nakiri Mana looked at the desperate girl before her and let out a long, weary sigh. Erina still believed this was a matter of rejection, a failure to meet some impossible standard. In truth, Mana was simply struggling to hold her own fractured composure together.
Ren caught the subtle tremor in Mana's shoulders. He leaned slightly, his voice a quiet murmur that cut through the rising tension. "Modeus. Close the door."
The demon girl nodded silently, stepping back to pull the heavy wooden door shut with a soft click. The outside world was sealed away. Now, it was only the quiet hum of the restaurant, Nakiri Mana with her eyes pressed tightly shut, and Erina, whose red, tear-filled gaze refused to look away.
Opening her eyes, Mana let out another breath, the weight of decades pressing down on her slender frame. "Ren... I apologize for making you all bear witness to this." She turned her sorrowful gaze back to the blonde girl. "Erina, come with me."
Moving with the stiff, uncertain steps of a child awaiting punishment, Erina followed. Mana guided her to a quiet dining table in the corner and took a seat. She looked across the polished wood at Erina, who stood frozen, utterly at a loss. "Erina," Mana asked softly, "do you know why I left the Nakiri estate all those years ago?"
Erina flinched. "Because..." she choked out, her voice barely a whisper. "Because Father was too weak... and because I was too inadequate..."
"No, Erina. That isn't it at all," Mana replied, her tone laced with a bitter melancholy. "Your talent far, far eclipses mine. When I was your age, sitting in those Totsuki classrooms, I certainly hadn't claimed a seat in the Elite Ten." She paused, her eyes softening. "I have always kept watch over you from afar. The Little Princess with the God Tongue. It truly is wonderful. You inherited the absolute pinnacle of the Nakiri family's gifts..."
"But my God Tongue is still too immature!" Erina protested, her hands gripping the edge of the table. "I... I'm still too weak... Huh?"
Her frantic words died in her throat as Mana reached out, gently taking her trembling hand. Erina froze, a flicker of desperate hope crossing her features at the sudden warmth.
"What you don't know," Mana said, offering a sad, fragile smile, "is that my departure back then had nothing to do with your father, or with you. I left because of this cursed talent."
Confusion rippled through the onlookers. Aside from Alice, who looked equally lost, Yuko and the others exchanged bewildered glances. The truth of the Nakiri bloodline was a closely guarded secret, buried by time and trauma.
"The God Tongue is hailed as a miraculous gift, an unmatched palate that transcends even the concept of super-tasting," Mana explained, her thumb tracing the back of Erina's hand. "But it possesses one fatal, terrifying flaw. It grows."
"I know that," Erina said quickly, desperate to prove her understanding. "I've always worked tirelessly to hone my God Tongue, to refine it! But... why is that a flaw?"
"Because that growth is a one-way road to starvation," Mana said, her voice dropping to a chilling whisper. "As it develops, your taste buds become impossibly discerning. The dishes you can tolerate dwindle. Eventually, the agonizing craving for true culinary perfection clashes with the fundamental inability to find any food that satisfies the God Tongue. That starvation of the soul drives the owner to madness, total collapse... or even suicide."
Horror drained the color from Erina's face. Riven's expression hardened into grim realization. Ichihara Yuko, leaning against the counter, tilted her head, the pieces clicking into place. "I see," the Dimensional Witch murmured. "You couldn't bear the encroaching agony. That's why you fled the Nakiri household and sought out the World Gourmet Organization—to scour the globe for dishes that could stave off the despair. Am I right?"
Mana nodded slowly. Erina gasped, the revelation shattering her lifelong resentment. "So that's how it was... all this time, I thought..."
"It was never your fault, Erina. You are a brilliant, exceptional child," Mana reassured her.
"Then... what about now?" Erina asked, her voice trembling with a fragile hope.
"I have been receiving treatment here, at Ren's restaurant. I can finally eat like a normal person again." Mana smiled, glancing toward the kitchen. "And you don't need to fear the curse either, Erina. Your God Tongue is still in its infancy. Ren told me that your treatment began the very first day you stepped into this shop. The effects on you are even more deep than on me."
A heavy breath escaped Erina's lips, the phantom weight of a doomed future lifting from her shoulders. But the relief was fleeting. The original, agonizing question clawed its way back to the surface. "But... but then why?" she pleaded, her voice cracking. "If the curse is cured, why do you still refuse to acknowledge me as your daughter?!"
Mana looked at her, the sorrow in her eyes deepening into an abyss. "Because, Erina... I truly am not your biological mother."
"What... what does that even mean?" Erina stammered, her mind spinning. "This..."
"Erina," Mana asked softly, "do you know how many children your grandfather had in total?"
"Huh? Uncle Soe and you... just the two of you..."
Alice nodded vigorously in agreement.
Mana shook her head, a bitter grief lacing her words. "No. There were three of us. Your Uncle Soe is the eldest, the firstborn son of the main branch. But between him and me... there was an older sister. She was four years younger than our brother, and... thirteen, perhaps fourteen years older than me. The exact gap blurs in my memory now."
The room fell into a stunned, breathless silence. Erina stared at Mana, her violet eyes wide and vacant. Seconds ticked by like hours before the implication finally struck her, hitting with the force of a physical blow. She looked at the woman before her in absolute disbelief.
Mana closed her eyes, letting the painful truth spill into the quiet room. "Yes. You are my older sister's daughter. Which means... I am your aunt."
"But... but..." Erina's voice was a fragile, broken thread. "Where is my mother, then?"
"Do you remember what I just told you?" Mana asked, her voice trembling. "The fatal flaw of the God Tongue..."
Erina's breath hitched as she recalled the chilling words. "It keeps growing... until you can't eat anything at all. The despair drives you to madness... or suicide... Huh?!"
Mana buried her face in her hands, a ragged sigh escaping her lips. "Yes. My sister possessed the God Tongue as well. And she honed it for far longer, and far deeper, than I ever did."
Modeus, uncharacteristically hesitant, stepped forward. "So... Mana... your sister... did she...?"
"She saw no hope," Mana whispered, the memory carving fresh lines of grief into her face. "She lost all motivation to live. But because she had you, Erina, she couldn't bring herself to end it all. She lacked the cruelty to abandon you through suicide, yet she refused to become a hollow shell, sustained only by intravenous nutrient fluids, living as neither human nor ghost. And so... her life simply withered away on a hospital bed."
Tears spilled down Erina's cheeks, her eyes bloodshot and wide. "Is... is that true?!"
"It is," Mana said, her voice breaking. "Brother Soe and I were both there in her final moments. He stood in absolute silence, while I... I was paralyzed by terror. Watching her waste away, knowing that the exact same curse flowed in my veins... I was terrified that I was looking at my own future. That fear tormented me every single day of my life."
Erina stared at her aunt, the foundations of her entire existence crumbling to dust. The mother she had yearned for was a phantom. The curse she bore had already claimed her true mother's life. The sheer weight of the revelation crashed down upon her. Her vision swam, the edges of the room bleeding into blackness. Her knees buckled, and she pitched forward, only to be caught by the frantic, desperate arms of Hisako before she hit the floor.
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