Um, excuse me, but no. I’m not going to kill this girl, Al spoke through his thought. The sudden message from the Forgotten Constellation caught him off guard, and the message itself was rather questionable.

[Do it! Kill her!]

Um, I don’t know what your problem is, but lay off the murderous intent please. Right now, killing animals are already pushing my limit over here, Al replied.

[Kill her or I will take back that curse!]

Be my guest then, Al thought, smiling. He had no doubt the benefit of the curse was good, but in a world like this, humans needed humans. And in numbers, we survived.

The Forgotten Constellation turned silent. It probably did not expect Al to react like that. And for a Constellation, it had its pride in the gift it gave to Al, having a line of thought that was similar to giving an a candy to an ant.

“Hentai?” the girl said. It was a word far too familiar for Al back in his early college days. Looking down, he realized why she said such word.

“Oh, shit,” Al said. Trying to think of an explanation without sounding or appearing like a total pervert. His hands nervously tried to unhook the bra from behind, and he missed a couple of times before unlatching it completely. By the time he did, it hit him.

Wait, I don’t even speak Japanese. He gazed at the Japanese girl, and let out a long sigh. Thinking back through those subbed anime he used to watch, he pieced together a few words that still lived rent free in his mind. “Omae . . . Um, wa . . . Name?” he pointed at the Japanese girl.

She said a rather long sentence, but she definitely emphasized on ‘Izumi’, so Al assumed that was her name. And now came the hardest part, he needed to think of a way to get rid of this Japanese girl to activate his curse back.

[I believe someone said he did not want the curse.]

The Forgotten Constellation returned. Yet Al paid no mind. He regarded it merely like those spam messages he always got in his email.

The only thing I could think of is sending her to those guys at the cave. But her looking like this. He looked at her up and down, covered in crimson blood. She definitely looks suspicious.

“Hentai,” she said it again. As if the term pervert had been officially his name to her.

“No. I. Am. Al,” Al said. Enunciating it slowly, making sure the message went across.

Never mind, let’s just show her the way to the cave, and be done with it. He gestured to follow him, and the latter did without question. Not like both of them could communicate to begin with.

Both strode through the forest floor, heading to the edge of the tree line. In the meantime, things kept spamming Al’s vision.

[Kill that bitch…]

[Kill that eyesore…]

[Kill that walking turd…]

[Kill that snake’s offspring…]

…

You know, something just crosses my mind. Now I know why you’re the forgotten one. Al took a jab at the spamming constellation, and it wasn’t met kindly. A flurry of swear words came in all sort of manner, to the point you didn’t think it was even possible to come with such thing.

Al ignored the ongoing list, taking a sweep at everything in front of him. From what happened last night, it was best to stay alert even during daylight. But then, his vision was blocked. The Forgotten Constellation took petty to another level. Spamming those swear words until Al’s whole vision was blocked.

Al sighed, stopping in place. I don’t know why you want me to kill Izumi, but the least you can do is give me a proper reason for it.

The spamming halted.

It took a while before the Forgotten Constellation text again.

[Do as your told human, and this noble one might bear you a gift.]

A bait dangled on the end of a fishing line. The Forgotten Constellation had no intention of explaining things, and resorted to using the greediness of humans to its advantage.

I didn’t notice it before, but man the air in this woods is refreshing. He openly ignored the Forgotten Constellation. Taking his sweet time getting to the end of forest.

[Did you not seek a suitable class with that great gift I gave you?]

The Forgotten Constellation goaded.

[I might have something just perfect for such situation. But as you know, nothing comes free, and I demand an equal exchange that will greatly bless you in this plane.]

It would be a lie if Al wasn’t tempted by such a proposition. The guarantee of a suitable class with his curse would be a boon for him right now and in the long future ahead of him. But still. He was no murderer. And the Forgotten Constellation read him like an open book.

[Fret not, human. Taking a life is a meager thing where you are right now. There’s no foolish human law that you are bound to and in this plane, it’s kill or be killed. So how about it? Have your first kill, and reap a glorious reward. And for the sake of making you feel better, some people had already started killing each other. So just do it, human. It’s not that bad, if I say so myself.]

It was like a whisper from the devil itself. Yet the whisper was basically texting him in real life. So no, Al couldn’t say it was just an irrational part of his mind trying to corrupt his untainted soul as it was just a constellation, a formation of stars pressuring him to do a bad deed.

You still haven’t tell me the reason why I should kill her. So what is it? Is she a murderer before coming here? Or is she a demon in disguise perhaps? And I’m hoping we’re not killing her because of something trivial like the girl believing in horoscope as such.

[Why are you so fixated in not doing the act of killing so much? Didn’t you just now kill that poor little dog? Double standard much, human? Like your kind always do?]

I don’t know being double standard, but I don’t really like the idea of staining my hands with murder. But don’t get me wrong, if someone really tried to kill me, I think I wouldn’t hesitate in doing the same thing back. Al thought. But I just hope it won’t come to that though.

[You are not going to do it are you?]

Obviously, but I’m still waiting on the reason why I should kill her. And you could have just lie you know, like telling me she’s a killer that uses her beauty for some shit like having catharsis when taking a life or something.

[…]

Rather than a response, he got three dots which could mean anything. Are you under some kind of oath that doesn’t allow you to lie or something? Or is it something in the line of not being able to tell any significant details that might influence greatly about this plane you spoke about.

[For a human, you’re quite quick in the uptake, and I applaud you for that. But no, I’ve made enough mistake slipping the part about the plane.]

Al was surprised. He didn’t think a constellation would apologize of all things. So it might be shallow of him to think them as such arrogant egotistical bastard.

[I’m gonna ignore what just crossed your mind just now, and as it pains me to do say this, our little banter just now is quite amusing. So as a parting gift, I will tell you this. This isn’t your last destination…]

Silence ensued, and Al took his time processing what that meant.

[Enough talking for now. To begin with I shouldn’t do it, but seeing this girl just riles me up. I will end this here, but if you are in need of a bountiful gift, killing that girl is still an open option…]

The Forgotten Constellation left the chat, and the mystery of why he was here was still shrouded in a cloud of the unknown. Soon, they reached the tree line with a visible line of sight to the mouth of the cave.

Al pointed to the cave. Gesticulating with his hands for her to head towards the cave. “Nakama,” he said. It was ‘friend’ in Japanese, and it was enough for her to understand.

“Izumi. Go. Nakama,” Al said. Again, pointing towards the cave.

But she shook her head, saying something in Japanese. For some reason, her eyes were already glistening.

Aw, shit. Please don’t do those eyes to me. He was rather weak against eyes like those and he turned his head away. While chatting with the constellation he had a few plans in mind, hoping to grind his levels in hope of finding a solution to ensuring his safety when meeting others. The talks of people easily murdering one another did scared him a bit, and he thought it would be wise to be prepared when such time came.

“Sorry, but I’m not going,” Al said. “You need to go alone, Izumi.”

He still kept his eyes away, but a touch grasped his hand. “Hmm?”

Izumi led his hand towards her and to his surprise the unthinkable just happened. The end of his fingers felt something wet and it was an oddly familiar sensation that he once had with his ex. He turned and noticed where his hand was.

And Al’s eyes opened wide.