"Just shut up… will you?!" I found myself bursting out and my voice being loud and rude that she was startled for a moment and was looking at me with a plain expression on her face.

"What?" She was dumbfounded by my sudden change in demeanour.

​​

"Don't put that act on, okay?"

"What act!?"

"See, I understand that I'm nothing but a slave to you, so just drop the act of being all thoughtful and stuff." I said what was going inside my head without thinking about it twice.

"But… what's wrong with you huh!?" she said in a tone that was quite new for me. She was looking at me with almost hurtful eyes, but her face was stiff.

"If there's anything I hate the most, it's people acting like they care!" There was so much bitterness in my words, but I was just expressing my honest feelings.

"Saishi, is something up with you!?" All this while, she didn't avert her eyes from me for once. Looking at her, I couldn't tell whether she was being genuine or not, but there was a strange tone in her voice that gave a sense of acknowledgement.

"No, I'm good." Taking a deep breath, I answered her.

"You're definitely lying… I don't need to read your mind to tell that." She said in an instant. I still forget the fact that she can read my mind, but I was rather more expressive in that moment.

Giving her a sharp look and staring into her crimson eyes, I replied, "Listen… if you want to beat around the bush instead of telling me about it, then don't talk with me about it. I don't want to waste my time."

"You think I enjoy this?" The small curve that formed on her lips a few moments ago was gone now. She was glaring at me quite intensely, and I could see the tension rising between us.

"Huh!?" she said in a bitter voice. Maybe this was the moment that both of us were being honest with each other rather than suppressing our thoughts and burying them inside our minds.

"You think I enjoy lying to you? You think I enjoy the fact that I can't help you with the targets!?" Sitting straight up and leaning towards me, she pointed her index finger towards me and said in a quite aggressive tone.

"You think!?" I retorted, slapping her hand away from the front of my face. I really hated when anyone pointed their fingers in front of my face while talking.

"You know I'm as desperate as you to complete this contract too!" She yelled, almost as if she was too frustrated. I noticed her clenching the bedsheet in her fists as those words left her mouth.

"You have to complete this contract?" I asked, as this was not the first time she slipped something like this out of her mouth.

Also this is the second time she said something about completing the contract, but I thought her only job was to supervise me doing my tasks. But the way she was saying those, it seems like she might have some active connection with the contract, too.

"You think I don't realise that helping you in this contract would have been much easier!?" She asked in a rough tone.

"Well… I don't know… you seem like a sadistic bitch who enjoys tormenting humans…" I said blatantly and my words did hurt her somehow because at that moment, I noticed her lips twitch for a moment and a glimpse of remorse in her eyes.

"Saishi!" She called out my name and before I could react or reply to her, the fingers of her left arm were already wrapped around my neck. And I was back against the bed with her being on top of me.

I couldn't even process what was happening with me, but the only thing I knew was that I might be living my last moment.

"What!? You want to kill me?" I looked into crimson eyes which were piercing into me at this point and the stony expression on her face that I have never seen before. Her grip was getting tighter and I could tell her thumb was crushing my voice box.

"Do it… I know you can kill me at any instant… do it!" I encouraged her. I knew that what I was doing was a gamble that could actually end up with me dying right in that spot, but I knew for sure that she can't afford to kill me.

"I…" She finally opened her mouth, but despite the distant look on her face, her voice was strangely warm and vulnerable.

"Do it!" Putting my right hand above her's, I started applying force and the expression on her face soon changed into panicked, as she tried to get her hand away from me but I was holding it tight.

"I can't goddammit!" Loosening her grip and dropping her shoulders in defeat, she said.

"I would rather die than live with no surety if I would be able to see tomorrow or not." I finally removed my hand and she retracted her arm as I caressed my neck with my other arm.

"You can't die. At least not now." She assured me, and I knew I could believe her after what happened a few moments ago.

"How are you so sure about it?" I was acting tough, but my heart was beating really fast and my forehead slightly drenched with cold sweat.

"I can't say that." She didn't reply to me instantly.

"Again the same shit…" I coughed a bit because I was feeling weird as my voice box was moving with every word I spoke.

"Listen… I'll definitely tell you about it someday…" She gave a warm look, but I don't know how much of that was true or even if it was something I should trust in the first place.

"I promise… but not right now." Noticing the skeptical look on my face, she gently held my left arm with her right arm and her little finger wrapped around mine.

"I don't care about it." I said, but I rather found it a bit comforting that she promised that.

"I won't ever let you die." She smiled warmly, but there was much regret behind those lips. There was much agony trapped inside her crimson eyes.

Thinking about it was useless because I had no idea about her past.