The barrier came down all at once, and cool air hit me like a slap. A shiver went down my spine at the sudden burst of coldness hitting me from all sides.
I gasped, dragging in a full lungful of air, soaked through from head to boot, steam still curling faintly off my skin where it met the colder outside air. My clothes clung to me like a second skin, uncomfortably heavy, and every breath tasted like I'd been drinking the atmosphere instead of breathing it.
'For God's sake, I at least should have taken off my clothes before executing that plan. Now I am soaked and miserable...'
Pop.
"Congratulations! You have earned 5 points for a kill."
"Yeah, yeah... can you stop popping up right beside me out of nowhere... you'll give me a heart attack one of these days..." I wheezed out between breaths. As my hot skin cooled down, I started to feel the coldness sinking in. It was still autumn in Japan, but the chilly winds felt like I was in Antarctica...
I riled up some of my cursed energy inside my body to make certain my body temperature didn't fall too low and then looked down at the corpse of one Reggie Star. My handiwork, surely, but I still didn't like it.
Knew it was important, but killing left a bad aftertaste in my mouth.
I crouched down, slowly gathered up the scattered, sodden remains of Reggie's arsenal — receipt after receipt, soaked through, many already torn by that last struggle he put up for his dear life.
I picked all the intact ones... as for why I gathered them... wasn't it obvious?
By the time I made it back to where I'd left Remi, I had a bag slung over one shoulder. God only knows how I found one in that condition, but I somehow managed. It was heavy with wet paper, and I was fairly sure I'd developed a shiver that might need more than a short dose of Reverse Cursed Technique to fix.
She was waiting exactly where I'd left her, and the moment she spotted me her whole posture changed — shoulders dropping, eyes going wide.
"Yami—" She actually started forward, quick steps, before catching herself halfway and slowing, some memory visibly crossing her face and killing the momentum. 'He knows. He knows I work for Reggie. Why am I even—'
It was a bit comical seeing her go from an overcharged stuffed bunny to the pace of a turtle in the matter of seconds during her dash towards me.
"You beat him," she said instead, quieter now, like she still wasn't sure she believed it.
"Barely," I admitted, and then, without warning, sneezed directly in her general direction.
She flinched back. "Ew—"
"Sorry." I wiped my nose with the back of my sleeve, entirely undignified. "Walking around soaked through in this weather right after a fight probably wasn't my best decision."
"You think?" She crossed her arms, though there was less bite in it than usual. "You look terrible."
"Heh... you should have taken a look at my opponent." I grumbled, before my nose decided it couldn't handle me trying to act tough in front of a girl and let out another sneeze.
She opened her mouth — I could tell there was a real question building behind it, something more than the small talk, but that sneeze shut her up. Whatever she'd been about to ask visibly died on her tongue in favor of steering me toward shelter instead.
A few hours later, in a warm, moderately intact apartment with actual working blankets and, more importantly, actual dry clothes, I sat cross-legged on the floor surrounded by an absurd web of rope I'd strung wall to wall, receipts pinned along every line like some deranged art installation.
Remi watched the whole process with an expression that suggested she genuinely couldn't decide whether I had finally lost it.
"...You're really drying all of them."
"Not all of them... many are useless. The ones you see here are the only ones I need." I said while pointing at another pile of wet paper discarded on the side while I adjusted one particularly damp receipt so it wasn't dripping onto the one below it.
If she found this suspicious behavior, which of course she did, she didn't voice it out loud. No further comments on it, just settled onto the couch, fidgeting slightly, clearly working up to something. I let her take her time.
Finally: "Why did you protect me from Chizuru?"
"Do I need a reason to protect someone if I can?" I mindlessly replied, not turning towards her, just doing my task.
There was a pause from her side until she finally replied again. "...But I'm not just someone. I work with Reggie, I tried to kill you back then and even brought you to him..."
I paused mid-adjustment, actually thinking about it instead of just throwing out something glib.
"Honestly..." I trailed off.
"It was reflexes, mostly. My body moved before I finished deciding anything." I shrugged, going back to the ropes. "But if I'm being fair to myself, I would have decided to save you even if I had time to ponder over it..."
Remi looked at me, eyes on me, hands clenched together. "But why... I tried to kill you back then... I killed people, lured them to Reggie and then he killed them... why would you save someone like..."
"Because you're not a bad person..." I cut her sentence off... already had a good idea where it was heading. And apparently that response took her completely off guard.
"I mean, you tried to talk me out of going after Reggie. More than once. If you were really as bad as you claim, you wouldn't have minded leading me straight into a trap. You could have just walked me straight into it and let him handle the rest. But you didn't."
She went very still.
"I don't quite know what kind of person you are or what your experience was like in the last ten or so days in these colonies, but that little bit of detail told me something important about you..."
"You're a good person. Deep down, whatever else is going on. You don't really intend to kill or cause harm. You did what was needed to protect yourself, even if that meant listening to Reggie and doing his bidding. You can't change what has already been done, but you can change what you'll do next. That is fine..."
Her breath caught, just slightly, and her hands curled tighter into the fabric of her sleeves. 'A good person...' She turned her face away, ears going faintly red, unable to hold my gaze for more than a second.
'Me...!'
"...You don't know anything about me," she muttered, though it lacked any real conviction.
"Agreed." I finally sat back, satisfied with the last receipt's placement. "Doesn't change what I saw, though."
That brought silence to the room. I could feel my stomach grumbling after that exhausting fight while she could hear her heart beating faster.
'Why does it feel like my heart's racing now when I look at him... idiot, baka... calm down.' Remi pressed both her hands against her chest.
It almost hurt, that's how fast her heart felt like it was beating.
She was quiet for a moment, chewing on that, before finally asking, "Where are you headed next?"
"There is another strong player named Higuruma." I said it simply, already thinking ahead. "I'm going after his points next."
Her face fell almost immediately. "That's—" She caught herself, pressed her lips together. 'Another dangerous fight. Doesn't he ever slow down?' "That's not a good idea."
"Probably not," I agreed cheerfully. "Doesn't change the plan much, though."
She looked like she wanted to argue further, opened her mouth to try, then closed it again, clearly recognizing the wall she'd hit again. 'He will not listen.' She knew it.
It felt uncomfortable... Remi wished to say something, but she held herself back...
Instead, she just watched me eat — I'd found actual instant noodles this time, small mercies — picking at the hem of her sleeve, something building behind her expression that she seemed to be gathering the courage for.
'He saved me twice. Fed me. Believed I was good even when he had every reason not to. Maybe...' She pursed her lips...
"Man... I feel alive now..." I sighed. The noodles really hit the spot. I was starving.
'Say it, Remi... you finally found your knight, tell him....' She took a deep breath.
"I wonder what Maki's doing right now... hope her clan isn't giving her trouble..." I wondered, not even aware I was voicing my thoughts as my comfort level increased, going for another bite of those noodles only to find they were gone.
I looked down...
Really gone...
I looked up.
There they were, Remi had them. Wait, don't tell me she wanted some too...
"Yami..."
"Hmmm."
"Who's Maki?"
xXx
A/N : Okay, I'm to blame, the old cliche, hero saving the girl and she falling for him, but hey, for the little screen time she gonna have, I wanted to make it a bit more memorable, just give her character a bit of the push...
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