Sense of Kinship (5)

Clothes are important.

Until now, I’ve mainly made and worn gothic lolita clothes with black and white color schemes, but lately I’ve been wanting to try wearing different clothes.

Is it because I’m mixing with people? It feels like my mind is gradually becoming more human.

“Right?”

[You’re doing well.]

Thanks for answering. Talking to myself at home is too foolish.

Come to think of it, Erica’s uniform that she usually wears changes every day. It was refreshing because it was pleasing to the eye.

I took out a few casual clothes from the drawer and put them back in place.

I don’t know what suits me alone. I’ll have to ask Erica later.

And to get back my clothes that I took last time.

[How’s your body?]

“I think it’s fine.”

[It seemed a bit severe yesterday.]

You’re quite quick to notice too.

I hesitated for a moment holding the pill.

[Taking care of your health is important. You can’t skip a day’s dose just because you don’t like it, can you?]

“It’s not that I don’t want to take it.”

It’s a different kind of bitterness from Americano, though.

The action I repeated to suppress pain has somehow become a daily routine.

[By the way, I have something to boast about.]

Along with a mature voice echoing, the space distorted and a purple subspace opened. Countless crystal balls fell out through the cracks of the rift.

[I’ve gathered quite a bit of power. Can you see?]

“Wouldn’t it be strange if I couldn’t see?”

I approached and picked up one of the fallen magic stones.

“But do you need power for something?”

Is there something you want to do?

[… Still, there might be someday.]

“You haven’t thought about it, huh.”

Looking back, I’ve received a lot of help from Bloody. It must be overwhelming to watch someone like me from the side.

After a glass of water, I left the house.

As soon as I opened the office door, as always, I looked for Erica.

She’s not here.

Even though it’s afternoon.

“Erica’s not here!”

“She’s in a meeting.”

I twisted a lock of my hair and slumped down at the desk in front of me. I stretched while watching the Director brewing coffee.

“Ah, come to think of it.”

“Yes?”

“I heard a corpse was found in front of the square yesterday.”

“And?”

“They say you were there too.”

“So what?”

My red eyes shone elegantly.

“Do you know anything?”

“I told Erica too. I don’t know. Are you suspecting me by any chance?”

“That’s not it.”

The Director waved his hand. It was a firm movement.

“It’s the first time I’ve seen you say you don’t know something.”

“How much have you seen of me to say that?”

“I’ve seen a lot?”

I smiled slightly. When I put the paper cup to my mouth, green tea flavor flowed in.

“I’m not going to tell you anything.”

“Oh?”

“The bad woman ranked first among wanted awakened ones won’t cooperate obediently with the Association.”

Although I showed a friendly attitude towards the Association to get Erica’s attention, I still hadn’t abandoned my obligations in the end.

“So you lied to Erica?”

I had never done it even once until now.

It was broken as of yesterday.

I lied that I didn’t taste blood while eating chocolate cake.

I deceived her by saying I didn’t see Jekyll.

“But isn’t that what becoming human-like means?”

Apart from that.

“Actually, if this green tea had been coffee, I might have spilled everything.”

“What a pity.”

But even so. How could I take the Association’s side? Even after seeing the green hair trembling while holding a dagger.

I thought I couldn’t easily be hostile to her.

It’s a miserable fate.

After a moment of silence, the conference room door opened.

“You’re here!”

I intentionally approached Erica and tried to hug her.

If only I hadn’t been slightly pushed away.

“…Hmph.”

What’s this? Why are you like this?

Seeing Erica not even meeting my eyes, I suddenly felt sad.

You treated me well just yesterday.

“Did you like it?”

“…What?”

“I’m asking if you liked eating cake with me yesterday.”

“Yeah. I liked it.”

“Hmph.”

I blinked.

“You ignore me as you please sometimes, and now you’re clinging to me again today?”

“……”

“Look at you not answering.”

Come to think of it, I was shamelessly confident yesterday. Telling her not to treat me well.

“Y-you stroked me when we were eating cake… Wasn’t that okay then…?”

“No? I was just playing along like you played with me? Am I not allowed to treat you roughly?”

That’s not okay. You should always be at my mercy.

“I don’t know what I might do if you don’t become obedient right now.”

I glared on purpose.

“Go ahead and try. Then you’ll never see my face again.”

That’s not right. You’re too much. This is gaslighting.

I drooped my arms.

“You still haven’t made up, I see.”

Ignoring the voice, I tidied my clothes.

With my body suddenly becoming lethargic, I buried my face on the desk.

“Still, you have to work.”

As I turned my face to the side, I saw a report. When I blew lightly, it flew far away.

“There’s been a faction fight between awakened ones residing in Yangju City. One of them, the Hwahan faction, is a group that interacts with our Association.”

Yangju City, where incidents occur particularly frequently compared to surrounding suburban areas.

It’s characterized by being divided into groups here and there to expand their residential areas over districts.

“The Hwahan faction, which had been occupying the lower part of Yangju City centered on Baekseok-eup, pushed upwards and engaged in a big battle with an enemy faction. Now it’s superficially a ceasefire, but it looks like it will start again soon.”

“By Hwahan faction, you mean the one led by the 9th ranked, right?”

I fell into contemplation for a moment at Erica’s words.

Iris? Come to think of it, it’s been quite a while since I met her.

“That’s right. We were just watching the situation because contact with headquarters was temporarily cut off, but wouldn’t it be good to go show our faces and provide support while we’re at it?”

“I don’t want to go!”

“This is a big problem.”

Silence fell. I pointed my finger at Erica.

“I’ll think about it if you cling to me and beg me to go with you.”

“I don’t need that. I can do it alone.”

I blinked watching Erica walk away.

I didn’t expect this.

I turned to look at the Director.

“What should I do?”

“Erica does have some standing as a ranker. But the atmosphere there won’t be very good.”

My thought process drew a straight line.

When I went downstairs, I saw a few employees and Erica. The boxes placed on the office table were filled with magic stones and medical equipment.

I quietly approached and stood slightly to the side.

“Go away.”

“I don’t want to.”

“Didn’t you say you wouldn’t come along?”

As I was watching the busy employees, another box was placed.

A long piece of paper fluttered.

“This is the end of today’s list. Three boxes of 1000mp magic stones. One box of medical equipment. We also added magic fusion gas.”

“When will the firearms come in?”

“Ah… In the case of firearms, our branch isn’t in a sufficient state either. Since the last group extermination, finished products are not being supplied. It will take some time.”

I twisted my hair watching her nod.

“Even broken ones are fine. Iris can repair and use them quickly.”

The employee’s gaze turned to me and then back to the paper.

“The new hunters acquired quite a few last time. We’ll prepare them by the next dispatch.”

“Good!”

As I was smiling contentedly, a gaze flew towards me.

“Are you trying to help or what…”

“I told you I’d definitely help if you cling to me and beg.”

“I absolutely hate that.”

“I really want to see it just once.”

“That will never happen.”

Perhaps she had stopped whining, because after that, Erica didn’t say much even though she saw me following her.

After getting out of the vehicle, I looked around. Along with the crimson sky, shadows created by collapsed buildings were coloring the ground.

As it was Yangju City, no normal places were visible.

I saw an iron fence. There was also a fence with countless thorns attached. As I approached, there was an English phrase written on a sign with a skull drawn on it.

Warning!

“Danger! Highly flammable liquid or vapor! High voltage electricity!”

“Don’t go near it.”

“Since when have I ever listened to you?”

“Since you acted spoiled towards me.”

I couldn’t say anything.

This will need a countermeasure.

I turned my gaze. At the end of the iron fence, two hunters in uniforms were guarding the entrance.

“Did you contact them?”

“No. They said we couldn’t reach them.”

The gun barrel was raised. I took out my knife.

“Stop! Your identifi-“

The blade drew a curve. The gun shattered instantly and the debris flew through the air.

I saw the uniform shaking. A dagger was swung. I gripped the knife and deflected the dagger.

As I focused magic power on the knife and caught its trajectory, a thought occurred to me.

It would be troublesome if they died. Killing someone is a bad thing, right?

Pain flared in my head. The knife fell.

“Ack!”

“What are you doing? How can you suddenly do this!”

“They raised their guns first!”

“It’s a situation where they had no choice!”

I don’t know about that.

The door behind the two hunters who were staggering while holding their heads suddenly opened.

“What’s going on?”

Red hair fluttered. Red eyes also shone elegantly. The rifle she was holding in front of her black uniform gleamed.

“Lady Iris.”

“What? Aureli?”

“It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”

For a moment, Iris’s pupils narrowed. They then turned towards the panting hunters beside her.

“You’re still violent.”

“Not at all.”

Erica took a step forward. An ID was held out.

“I’m sorry. We’ve caused you trouble. We’re rankers dispatched from the Gyeonggi-do Association for support.”

“Ah.”

Her red lips opened.

“It’s okay. You must have had a hard time coming here.”

“Why are you all friendly except with me?”

Erica glared.

“Why don’t you look at what you’ve done?”

The hunters groaned.

I twisted a lock of my hair.

There’s not particularly a problem.