Lys sat at the kitchen table, elbows resting on the worn wood. The morning light was coming through the small window and fell across the three of them. His throat felt dry even though he had already drank two glasses of water while saying everything to the girls in front of him. The truth was out now, hanging in the air like some kind of smoke that refused to clear.
Mitsu sat across from him, hands folded in her lap. Selene was on his right, leaning forward with her arms on the table. None of them had touched the cups of water in front of them. And Lys did.
Selene broke the silence first, her voice blunt. "So you're basically saying, the whole time… Alex, meaning you, was inhabiting Lys's body? And the original Lys is probably dead?"
Lys nodded slowly. "Well…. That's one way to look at it, you can say."
Mitsu tilted her head slightly. "Or Alex and Lys are the same person now," she said quietly. "You know, Alex as a past life for Lys."
Lys looked at her, and his face brightened almost instantly. "Exactly. That's what I think too. You see, my conclusion is, however powerful a goddess is, how do you just rip a soul out and drop it into someone else's body? Especially a dead one. So, my theory is that she must've triggered something inside this body. Unlocked memories or merged them. And that's why I suddenly started remembering being Lys in this world. Those memories didn't disappear. They feel real to me as much as being Alex back in my previous world. They all are real to me."
Mitsu nodded once, with a simple and accepting face. "Yeah, that makes more sense than the other possibility."
Selene stared at Mitsu like she had grown a second head. "You seem fine with this. Doesn't it bother you that Lys might not actually be Lys? That the person you've been living with, the one who helped you, might be someone completely different wearing his skin?"
Mitsu looked back at Selene, her expression calm, almost puzzled by the question. "Huh, and why would it bother me?" she asked. "The Lys sitting here right now is the one I met. He's the one who took my hand when no one else would. He's the one who helped me and gave me a real home. He's the cool one I know who sometimes does very stupid things, too. The other Lys, if he even existed as a different person, I don't know him! I never met him!"
"And even if they were completely separate, what difference does it make now? There's nothing we can do about it. After all, it's gods' territory. Thinking too hard about something we can't change is just wasting energy. Am I wrong?"
Hearing Mitsu's logic behind her understanding of this situation made the kitchen feel quiet for both Lys and Selene.
Lys stared at Mitsu. He had always thought of her as the soft one. The cheerful and clumsy girl who dropped things all the time and smiled through everything.
He never expected her to cut straight through the mess of his explanation with that kind of calm logic.
And Selene looked just as surprised, too. She opened her mouth to say something, but again closed it, then looked at Lys.
They exchanged a quick glance. Both of them had quietly decided Mitsu wasn't the sharpest in the house. She was the one who needed protecting, the one who got emotional easily. And now she had just put into four simple sentences what neither of them had managed to sort out after twenty minutes of talking.
Lys felt something shift in his chest. It was the formation of something.
Respect. Maybe a little guilt for underestimating her all this time.
"Well, you're not wrong," he said finally, with a low voice. "I've also been thinking about it the same way. This body, these memories… they're mine now. I'm Lys. I remember growing up here. I remember Mom and Mira. I remember almost all of it. Though not the way others remember, but these memories are mine."
Selene leaned back in her chair, arms crossed. She still looked unsettled, but she didn't argue. Then she finally said something, "Uhh… It's just… a lot to take in."
Mitsu gave a small smile. "Yeah, I know, it is. But he's still the same person who helped me, and you too, when we both were at our worst. That's enough for me. So, I don't think I'll feel uneasy if Lys was not even Lys, and I don't think you should, too, Selene."
Lys felt warmth spread through him. He reached across the table and gave Mitsu's hand a quick squeeze. Mitsu felt a little shy at the sudden contact, but then she also squeezed back without hesitation.
Before anyone could say more or get to any point in their conversation, the front door of the house opened.
".....and the price of salt is ridiculous right now," Elara's voice carried in from the hallway. "I told the stall owner he should be ashamed, but he just laughed like it was nothing. I'm never buying things from these new shops again."
Mira's laugh followed. "Mom, you almost made him give us a discount with that glare of yours. I thought he was going to hide under the table."
Bags rustled as they stepped into the house. Lys stood up quickly from the table. Selene straightened in her seat and reached for her cup of water, acting like nothing had happened in the house while they were away. And Mitsu just looked down at the table, brushing imaginary crumbs from the surface.
Elara walked into the kitchen first, arms full of grocery bags. Mira followed right behind her, cheeks a little red and sweet on her neck from the walk. They were still mid-conversation, while walking and smiling.
Elara stopped when she saw the three of them sitting there. Her eyes moved across their faces. "Oo… What's going on? You all look like you were caught doing something."
Lys forced an easy smile and walked over to take some of the bags from her. "Nothing, Mom. We were just sitting here waiting for you two to get back. How was the market?"
Elara handed him the heavier bag but kept studying his face. "Well, it was busier, very crowded, than before the guild days. But we got most of what we needed, though the prices are slowly climbing in the village, maybe because new shops from outside the village are the reason for it."
She glanced at Selene, then at Mitsu. "You sure everything's alright? The air feels heavy in here."
Mira set her bags down on the counter and wiped her hands on her skirt. She was wearing a white blouse, which showed more than it covered, and a long skirt. It was the traditional clothing around this village by the way.
Then she noticed the tightness still sitting in Selene's shoulders and the way Mitsu was avoiding eye contact, too. She didn't say anything about it, but Lys could tell she had noticed all of those details.
"Yeah, everything's fine," Lys answered to Elara, and started to unpack the vegetables without her asking. "Just talking about some stuff. Nothing important."
Selene took a slow sip from her cup, trying to look natural. "Lys was telling us about his sword again. The cursed one."
Mitsu nodded quickly. "Yes. We were just talking about it."
Elara raised an eyebrow but seemed to accept the explanation for now. "That sword again? You really need to be careful with that thing. I still don't like you carrying it around the house."
"I know, Mom," Lys said. He gave Selene and Mitsu one sharp look each. The message was clear: keep quiet for now.
Mira moved beside him to help unpack, brushing her arm against his. She leaned in close while Elara turned to put something away. "You three looked way too serious for just talking about a sword," she whispered.
Lys gave her a small shrug and a grin. "Don't talk now. Later."
Mira narrowed her eyes but didn't push. She knew when to wait.
The kitchen slowly filled with normal morning sounds again, bags rustling, Elara humming softly as she organized the purchases, Mira teasing her mother about how much flour she bought.
But underneath it all, Lys could still feel the weight of the conversation they had just cut short. Selene kept glancing at him when no one was looking. Mitsu stayed quieter than usual, but every time their eyes met, she gave him a small, reassuring nod.
He had told them the truth. Part of it, at least.
And somehow, the house felt both heavier and lighter to him at the same time.