Sumire Akashi. She’s finally here.

All right. How do I play this? The right words might just reduce my sentence.

“Well, hello, Miss Akashi. Looking lovely as ever.”

“Thanks. But I’m here for something else.”

“Right. First, allow me to apologize.”

“Oh? I’m impressed. So you do have a conscience.”

“I am genuinely sorry.”

“Then list your sins.”

“I twisted your arm. I knocked you unconscious. I stole your car. I wrecked it.”

“Is that all?”

“I’m sorry for being born.”

“Not what I meant.”

“My apologies. That’s all that comes to mind—Gah!”

She grinds a finger into my left shoulder, right into the hole the rifle bullet punched through me.

“Fighting until you’re this battered and broken… You should apologize for making me worry.”

“Miss Akashi…”

“To be blunt, I completely underestimated you. I thought you were an idiot, throwing yourself into a battle you couldn’t win. No power of your own.To me, it just looked like suicide. I thought you’d gone reckless after the Akai Clan fell. You looked like you were searching for a place to die, Akamuro.I wanted to stop you. But when you went anyway, I thought… this was it. That it was over.”

She lowers her head, her expression grim.

A moment later, she looks up and puts her finger back on my shoulder.

“Agh! Stop! Why are you torturing me?”

“The first one was for getting rough with a lady. This one is for knocking me out.”

“By that logic… I still owe you for the car, don’t I?”

“Wow. Just what I’d expect from you, Akamuro. Such a good memory.”

She makes me pay for both offenses, leaving me in pain.

I swear, I’ll never misbehave again.

“Hah… hah… Lady Kimiyo… your Exorcist is going to kill me.”

I plead for help, but both Lady Kimiyo and Lady Ren just watch from the sidelines, faintly amused. They don’t say a word.

Cruel. This must be an Akachi thing.

“Now, as for making me worry…”

A whimper escapes my throat.

“What are you whimpering about? Honestly. You’re so pathetic, I’ll let you off the hook.”

Saved.

“You can make it up to me with a cool car, by the way. I’ll be looking forward to it.”

“Huh? But didn’t all that pain just settle the score…?”

Sumire takes a step toward me, raising a single, slender finger.

“…Just kidding! A joke! I’ll buy you one. Seriously. Tell me what kind you want.”

Once they’re gone, the exhaustion hits me like a freight train.

I’m out cold.

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