*SMACK*

Somehow, Alex managed to sneak up behind me and bitch-slap my cheek.

“Ouch! What did you do that for?!”

“That’s for feeling me up while we were hiding inside the container.” - This bitch… She clearly asked me to hug her back then. - “I also wanted to say that… You did the right thing… Don’t beat yourself up over it.”

*SIGH* She’s right, I already decided to walk this path. It is what it is… Not what it should be.

*SMOOCH*

“Wha- Wha?”

I awkwardly stumble backwards after the sudden kiss on the cheek from Alex.

“And this one’s for saving me, you better take responsibility handsome guy!”

After those unexpected words-of-praise, she simply gives me a wink and walks back to Viktor, as if nothing happened.

“Damn… My cheek suddenly doesn’t hurt anymore…”

…

After putting on some fresh but old-fashioned clothes, I head back to the front desk where Alex and Viktor are still busy discussing something:

“So old man, what about my salary?”

“Don’t call me old man you brat! Call me Viktor… And why are you already thinking about a salary?! Shouldn’t you just feel grateful that I’ll house you here?”

“I’m not planning on staying here for long though, I’ll use the salary to rent out an apartment, then I can pay you back little by little for your hospitality. I’m not planning to stay indebted to you for the rest of my life.”

*SIGH* “This brat… It’s okay to just take advantage of my good nature you know, ask Reo. You don’t have to pay me back either, I’ll just dock 30% of your pay towards your living expenses, you should stay here for a couple of months. At least until the Black Bear organization forgets about this incident.”

Alex just stands there as she silently nods, she’s not as feisty anymore.

“Good nature my ass.”

“Oh look, the other brat finally put his make-up on, I must say though, your fashion style is impeccable.”

“Yeah, I really tried to capture that grandpa vibe with this fit.”

“Yeah, yeah. Here, take your cartridges and leave, I’ll take care of this lady for you.”

“Sure… Thanks Viktor.”

Viktor hands me the cartridges and I immediately suck them up in my dimensional tattoo.

“You can come back for the try-out session later, you better not stay here any longer, you could accidentally raise somebody’s suspicion.”

“How do I deal with those Black Bear guys at the exits though? Will they search me?”

“Nah, you’re fine, they can’t do that here, it’s Miss Izumi’s place after all. They’re most likely just looking for a bloodied, hooded guy walking togheter with a girl. You’ll be fine… Probably.”

*SIGH* No secret exit or anything? Well, I’ll just hope they won’t recognize me then.

“Wait, Reo!”

Alex suddenly stops me from leaving:

“I… I just wanted to say that’ll definitely pay you back sometime… So until then, don’t get caught by those Black Bear guys, alright?”

“Don’t worry, I’m not planning on dying anytime soon. You won’t get rid of me that easily.”

I give her a wink.

“Come visit often! I might even be able to help you with some ‘romantic needs’ if you ask nicely…”

She shoots a wink back at me, my cheeks turn red.

“I’m just talking about relationship advice, you perv~”

God, this woman is difficult to deal with…

…

*PHEW* I exited the black market without any problems, someone did ask if I saw a hooded guy running away togheter with a girl, but after responding with a simple: “No” in my normal voice, they just let me go.

After a train ride that seemed longer than usual, I finally arrived back at the dorms.

*KNOCK* *KNOCK*

Nobody answers… I silently enter and drop myself off on the couch.

*SIGH* I’m dead tired, today was exhausting…

“R-Reo… Is that you?”

That sounds like Juniper, I can’t see anything though since the lights are still off.

“Y-Yeah, sorry for waking you up Juniper.”

“No worries, I couldn’t sleep anyways… Do you have time to talk right now?”

“I’m not sure if right now is a good time for me… I have a lot to deal with…”

Seemingly ignoring my rejections, I can hear her footsteps getting closer until she finally sits down besides me.”

“I hate this Reo… This distance between us, I don’t want us to avoid each other…”

“Me too Juniper, but I really don’t think now is a good time to talk about this.”

“Oh come on! I want to have this conversation with you Reo, stop avoiding me!”

“I just have a lot to deal with at the mome-“

“Reo! Stop running away, I already said I’m sorry for yelling at you.”

“I KILLED SOMEONE TODAY JUNIPER! I… I killed someone… I really don’t know how to speak with you like everything’s okay right now… I knew you were against it…”

“I-I didn’t know…”

Shit, I can’t believe I embarrassed myself in front of her again. I even exposed my assassination job… Well, I know Juniper probably won’t blab about it or anything… She’s a sweet girl and murder is unfortunately not that uncommon in this world… It feels good to get it off my chest though.

“No, forget it, it’s not your fault, my mind’s a mess right now… Sorry for yelling… I better leave.”

Before I can get up and leave, she suddenly hugs me… She’s so soft.

“Do you want to know why I was so against murder back then?”