"Kid," he says, pulling Dragonslayer out of the new hole in the floor, "If that was all there was to it, then life wouldn't be nearly as much of a pain in the ass as it is sometimes."
Taking a moment to resheath Dragonslayer as he gets out of his chair, Guts takes a quick look at what used to be a werewolf, fairly certain that it wouldn't go back to being a werewolf, but wanting to make sure just in case.
"We should probably get going, anyway," Guts says, making his way out of the bar, "And what the hell is a furfag?"
"Well, I'm telling you, that's why I said that's all there it is to it. Life is a pain in the arse sometimes, but that doesn't mean interesting stuff like this doesn't come once if a while. And that's how life is, sometimes sweet, sometimes crummy, and that's all there it is to it." Neo replied.
"But huh," he continued, still proud of himself, "By the way you call me 'kid', it seems as if you have this smug preconception that you have seen it all. I believe that I told you earlier already that there's no such thing as seeing it all, and those who think of such are those overtly-bitter and miserable fools who think there's not much to life than only cruelty and lies."
"And see, this is why I am right: You're asking me about the definition of furfag, as if you never encountered it. Of course, you didn't." Neo then pulled out his box of Lucky Strikes from his pocket and picked out a stick before putting it back. He then began to light up the stick on his mouth using the spit of flame he conjured using the flick of his fingers, and started smoking. "To put it in words you understand, furries are people who are so hilariously obsessed with animals, that they think of themselves as one and want to have sex with either another furry or with real animals. Being a werewolf doesn't make you a wolf, you shouldn't be too proud of it. Else, you're a furry and you want to shag real wolves. Disgusting."
"Y-yeah, I'm...fine." , Lorenzo weakly replied. "J-just... the soap got in my eye, that's all...". He wouldn't cry, no, his pride would never allow such a thing, he would definitely, surely not cry...
Lorenzo once again burst into tears, surely the blame was of the alcohol he drank, yes... that was it.
It took time before he finally gained back his senses, taking a deep breath, he left the bathtub and before taking a seat on the toilet bowl, his body covered with the towel that Rattus had left him.
"Miss Yukina, what would you do if all those you ever loved and would've given your life to protect died for your sake?...", the grieving pirate asked weakly.
There was a long silence after Yukina heard the pirate's question about people who have died to protect someone's life. The question related itself well to the Japanese woman's experiences, especially about her mother's last act of sacrifice that one fateful day.
It was just five days before her 29th birthday back then. There, at the port city of Hiroshima, a place still untouched by the Allied bombing runs during those days of the war. Many wondered why, despite all common sense, the city was not yet targeted by the Americans, despite it being a major industrial city as well as being the major headquarters for a part of the Imperial Japanese Army. And, up until that day, nobody knew the answers, so the populace had somewhat a sense of security all this time.
As for Yukina's family, they were eating back then, savoring the food that their mother had cooked for them. What was left of their family were simply her, her little sister and her mother, as her only brother and her father both had died serving the military in the front lines. There were having a chat back then, regarding their private matters, such as their friends or close neighbors. Saori, Yukina's little sister, expressed her disappointment back then about a friend who failed to do an important task for her, specifically a part of her assigned group's school project. She said that, because of this friend's laziness, everyone in the group almost failed the subject if it wasn't for the teacher's careful consideration. Saori also voiced her desire not to forgive this certain friend's mistakes, until their mother said to the two them that they should forgive people, even when it hurts, or even when it kills.
After eating, the three of them went to sit on the veranda to have more small talk later on, in order to rest themselves. While Saori and her mother were talking about a certain boy who had a crush on her, Yukina just opted to watch the morning sky and let her mind take her to places of her imagination. And then, Yukina had began to notice a silhouette in the sky, something that she could never mistake for anything else. It was an American plane. Yukina then called her sister and mother to see this big machine fly over the city. It wasn't really a curiosity to them, since the plane was alone and it might have been just sent to scout. However, her mother felt something bad about this, so she told her two children to get inside.
Everything that happened then began to turn chaotic in a flash. Suddenly, the whole house got wrecked beyond repair, as a flash in the sky had reduced the whole city of Hiroshima into a burning rubble. The two sisters then began to crawl themselves out of the wrecks of their home and find them mother amongst the ruins. And, when they found her, she was dead, with her body burned badly by the sudden flash in the sky. They were trying to wake her up in an effort to save her, but it was too late: The city has been utterly destroyed and she did not survive the attack.
Yukina's tears began to run down her cheeks as she remembered this unforgettable memory in her mind. However, she knew that she had to answer Lorenzo's question. Her mother had died protecting her and so she wiped her tears with her sleeves and answered with some hesitation.
"Um..." Her voice sounded shaky. "...I really do not know, Remei-san. But what I did, is to keep their memories alive in my mind, all the happy and good things that they did, and everything that... they told you must do. In that way, you keep them alive, even just if it was in your mind."
