The room was tightly closed, and the lights had been turned on back so that two individuals sitting facing each other could see each other clearly. Vemia sat up straight with her eyes, piercing the heart of someone who should be her brother. Meanwhile, Rio cannot return that sharp gaze while thinking of a suitable way out of this situation. It was like that stare peeling all the identities and secrets from the inside out of him.
In other words, Rio is a criminal who used vile tricks to live at this house, and Vemia will interrogate him to justice!
Vemia clears her throat. "Explain everything, down to the last detail. How come you can enter this house, have your own room while Dad, Mom, and Nando treat you like our family. That's super weird."
The young man is trying to think quickly in this situation. He doesn't know how far he should disclose the volunteers' identities who came from the future. However, what he understood very well from the training results to prepare for a trip to the past was: whatever happens, don't leak the fact if someone from the future comes to the past era.
"Wait a minute, I need time to properly put my explanation into proper words," Rio pleaded as he looked the other way. Other thoughts mess around his head like a hurricane when he tries to find the right thing to say.
"Hmm? Okay, since you're asked," Vemia replied lightly while meddling with her cell phone, "just so you know, I recorded you in the middle of your conversation until you removed that weird floating screen."
What Vemia said just now makes Rio shudder in horror. Turns out she already knows about the projection screen.
Due to this confusion, Rio is genuinely concerned about the risks for those in the future if someone from the past knows about people from the future. Will it cause a timeline disaster or something? On the one hand, he is also unsure of what will happen to his past record. Perhaps it'll no longer be effective, so the whole house knows Rio is not their real family? Then, what if they informed the authorities about this, and the entire world will know?
The situation is clearly going to get even more chaotic if I'm not handling this properly, he thought.
“…”
Vemia is still patiently waiting and puts down her cell phone with the screen facing the table. Her eyes were almost magically sharp comparable to the most tapered blade in the world, staring at the figure who didn't budge at all.
The night is quite late. There are no noises outside other than a few cars passing through and the rush of water from the river a few dozen meters away. The silence is deafening for Rio.
The little girl leaned back to get more relaxed. "You know, my memories sometimes got mixed together when I know you as my own brother, which was originally not true since I don't know you. But, I know that you are not a bad guy. You treat me and the others like your own family. However, what I still don't understand is: What's the point of you playing family with us like this?"
Rio listened to Vemia's carefully.
"Vemia, I know this is a confusing situation for you, but–can you trust me?" Rio asked with a low tone, just to make sure.
"I don't know, Rio. I don't know. I believe that you are a good person but.. for you to live at the same house with me and the others acting as they know you… just what happened here?."
After a few decisive minutes of pondering in his head, and then…
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"Okay, I'll tell you everything, but I want you to trust me for everything you'll hear. However, this is supposed to be top-secret information, so I ask you politely to delete your recordings before I explain everything."
"Why should I delete that? I need prove just in case."
"Because the world will be destroyed if anyone sees your recording…."
"H-huh, for real? I don't want that."
A minute later, she shows Rio her phone and how she deletes everything right away.
"It's done. So you talk now."
"Phew, alright. For the starter, I am a person from the future."
Starting from that sentence, Rio reveals everything that was supposed to keep secret from the original inhabitant of this timeline. A grand journey from the future for earth-saving missions, tools used to travel through space-time, technology that has been brought and used to mingle with the society of the past, and some slight information of several other volunteers.
He can tell that Vemia's facial expression gradually changed from being full of suspicion towards him to someone with eyes sparkled with every new information she got. It's just like her when she was reading an encyclopedia, she was also so focused on listening to every word Rio had to say.
Rio concluded that the others were sleeping soundly, so he didn't hesitate to show a projection that Vemia had seen earlier. Not to forget, Rio also explained his friends' identity who came along to this period.
"Starting from Valerie, who works in the same division as me, Rita also works in the same place but in different divisions. And lastly, Arisa. She chose to be an ordinary schoolgirl for her role at this time. From what I've heard, recently she adopted someone who used to live at the dam…."
"I see. Yes, I see," Vemia nods excessively, which Rio isn't expecting that she can move her head like that, "I don't know that you guys can actually pull off something like a time-traveling. Are you the first who could do it?"
"I do not think so. We've done time travel as a trial run before."
"A-Amazing… So, you are in my family here because of this record of the past technology stuff."
"Precisely."
"Nngh… it's difficult to follow, but mostly I understand!"
Rio let her process the information that sounded like the grandiose fantasy of someone who had read too much science fiction. The young man also has a moment to consider whether it is really okay to explain things like this.
He almost doubted himself. But he doesn't know the other way to handle this situation properly.
"Okay, okay. I understand enough. Then, I should formally welcome you into this family. Nice to meet you, Rio. I'm Vemia, someone who will be your little sister in this family," she welcomed him with a smile.
Rio let out a sigh of relief hearing that.
Thankfully she can understand and accepted me as his brother. It's not a mistake to share everything with Vemia. As long as she keeps her mouth shut, everything will be fine.
"Thank you, Vemia. My name is Rio, and I'll be your older brother from now on. Please take care of me."
"No problem. If this journey means saving the planet in the future, I'll help as much as I can. My soul feels like screaming at me to help with anything that you need!" Vemia replied until she stood up from her chair.
The chair is almost knocked down because of that.
"Include me in several activities that need to be carried out for the mission, too, okay!"
"Wait for a second! I don't know if that's a good idea or not."
"Do you mean that I can't really participate in your plans?"
"I meant, so far, our contributions have varied depending on the current conditions and record of the past that we programmed to. However, for Vemia, who has no such program, I don't know if you actually can do something."
"Okay, I understand. What a bummer."
Rio is trying to come up with something quickly. "How about starting from something small first? For example, try to pay attention more to the environment around you. From this house, the road that you usually use and your school. Vemia can ask your friends always to pay attention to the plants and maintain cleanliness. Small steps at the time and will be bigger later."
"Okay!" Vemia is almost shouting.
Who would have thought that today was the day his identity was revealed to his little sister among all people? Not long after, Vemia returns to her room to rest while Rio rushes to lie on the bed because it is exhausting his mind.
At least the crisis is successfully averted!
However, apparently, Rio couldn't sleep well. His head was still mulling over some of the worst possibilities of sharing the secret about the volunteer's identity from the future. In fact, to the point that he got nightmares.