“Cecelia… I need a jump to the other world.”

“Already?”

“Is that a problem?”

“No, it’s just… crystals don’t grow on trees.”

“Are we low?”

“We’re not.”

“Then, help me.”

I stepped around Mizuki, who was still standing in the middle of the room, shaking in shock. As I kneeled down and grabbed the body of the man I just killed, I looked around for a spot where I could teleport without a risk of being seen. My eyes landed on the freezer. As I began dragging his body into the freezer, Mizuki finally snapped out of her shock.

“Wh-what are you doing?”

“Stay out here.” I ordered.

She opened her mouth, but then closed it again. Her eyes didn’t look at the bodies or the blood. Instead, they seemed locked on me.

What did I do this time? I killed people in front of someone else. These weren’t even the first guys I killed in this world. The first time I had killed, it was mostly in anger and frustration. In Argos city, I could convince myself that anything I did there fit with that world. Wasn’t I just telling myself I was following the laws of that world? In that world, killing to survive wasn’t a crime. I was so insistent on following the rules, even though I could accumulate wealth laughably easy with the Perco, and then I went ahead and just killed people.

I understood I was a hypocrite, but that didn’t mean I could change it. I wasn’t going to steal. However, when someone needed to die, I would kill them. I closed the door to the cold room and locked it. Then, with a hand on the corpse, I transferred back to Argos city. I dumped the body in my inventory out, and dragged the other dead man to the side too.

“Any way you can sent a message to Katarina to remove the body?” I asked.

“I can send a text to Kiera.” Cecelia explained.

“Do it.”

“Done.”

I nodded, looking around the empty basement of the museum, where I had last teleported away. A strange part of me wanted to stay here. In this world, I wasn’t a murderer. I was just a survivor. I didn’t know how I was going to explain anything to Mizuki. I wasn’t confident that she might not immediately scream and run away once she had a chance to look over everything.

Yet, I had to return. My mother and my sister were still on Earth. As long as they were there, I would always come back.

“Return.”

There was a flash, and I was back in the cold room. As for the bodies, only a bit of blood and guts remained. I unlocked and opened the freezer, prepared to see anything. To my surprise, Mizuki was still standing there. She had a phone up to her ear and was speaking in it. When she saw me, she quickly ended up the conversation and looked at me. Rather, she was looking behind me, looking for the bodies.

“Where are they?”

“Dealt with.” I responded.

Her eyes flickered slightly. “I-if I don’t know where they are, I can’t guarantee that the police won’t find them.”

“Excuse me?”

“A cleanup crew is on the way. The proper people will be bribed, and this mess will be eliminated.”

“The bodies aren’t in a place that can be found.” I responded bluntly.

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“I… see… was it… that thing you did… to make him disappear?”

“Possibly.”

She looked down for a second, and then back up. “Is that the business you’re planning? Weapons?”

“Also possible.”

I didn’t plan to become some merchant of death. I was going to buy and sell weapons in the apocalyptic world, but I had no desire to bring those weapons to Earth. There were less evil ways to make money. However, I wasn’t going to make that clear to Mizuki. I still wasn’t even sure I could trust her yet. Actually, wouldn’t this be the moment of truth?

“Okay…” She spoke quietly.

“Okay?” I blinked. “Just okay?”

“What else should I say? You saved my life, again.”

I took a step forward, my expression twisting angrily. “And how long is that life going to last for?”

She reached up to her head. “It’s not as bad as it looks.”

“It looks pretty bad.”

“I-is it really so repulsive?” Her eyes looked worried.

I frowned, suddenly thinking that we might not be on the same wavelength there.

“You still look cute.” The words came out before I could stop myself.

She jerked, showing nearly as much of a reaction with that as she had over the people I had killed in front of her. I didn’t mean anything of it. I just thought she was being self-conscious about her hair. Living with my sister and mother who were often judged by their looks, responding to a woman who was being self-conscious just came naturally to me.

“Th-thank you…” She responded, her cheeks turning red.

“I’m leaving. Should we reschedule?” I declared instead, turning away from her.

“L-leaving! I mean, you don’t have to stay, but don’t we still have a meeting?”

I opened a door which had the name manager on it, and I was relieved to see that the cameras were in there. I immediately went to work deleting the last few hours of recording. Rather, I was going to follow what Cecelia told me to do, but Mizuki followed behind me. When she saw what I was doing, she shook her head.

“You don’t need to do that. My people will take care of it.”

“Maybe, I’d rather you people didn’t have anything on me.” I sat down.

My Perco beeped, and I looked at it to see a message that Cecelia left. Until I could get some way of communicating with her where no one else could hear, messages seemed like the best option. The message told me to check my email.

I decided to do what she asked, opening a browser and signing in. Wasn’t this creating more evidence? I thought as much until I found a new email sent from an unknown browser. It had an attachment and the title virus. So, we were on the same wavelength. I didn’t have the ability to just plug her into the computer, so she had delivered a virus. I downloaded and opened it. A few moments later, the screen began flickering and then turned off. There was a pop, and then I could smell some smoke. That might have been a bit too aggressive.

This would cost the restaurant a lot. Not only would they have to replace the computer, but they might have just lost years of payment information, menu designs, and other stuff. I was sure that her team could have deleted the specific information without frying the entire computer. Then remembering how much trouble that arse gave me upon entering the resturaunt, I felt like it was well deserved. I stood back up, only to end up face to face with Mizuki again, who was glowering at me.

“What?” I acted innocently, deciding I had no need to explain myself.

“I’m coming with you.” She declared, crossing her arms.

“Excuse me?”

“I don’t need to be here either. We still need to discuss your business.”

I rolled my eyes, but realizing she wasn’t going to budge, I waited at the exit just long enough for her to grab her wig. It looked like the people in the front had cleared out once realizing that the armed men weren’t coming back. I was a bit surprised that I didn’t hear any alarms. Shouldn’t the police have arrived by now? Then again, thinking about the kind of people who frequented this restaurant, everything that happened might be covered up.

We walked out into the back alley and slipped away. It was evening now, and the sun was starting to set. We only passed a few alley’s before reemerging on the main street. I was a little annoyed I left my bike behind, but I didn’t want to fetch it while there were people around anyway.

“Do you know what they wanted?” I asked after walking beside Mizuki for a bit. “They were specifically after you.”

“It’s not the first time someone has tried to kidnap me.” Mizuki shrugged. “I’m the daughter of a wealthy family. They think I’m an easy target.”

“And are you?” I asked.

“I’m dying. If they captured me, how much do you think anyone would pay to take me back?”

“I thought your parents were doing everything possible for you.”

“That have… they did…” she made a bitter face. “Dad would probably pay, but I wouldn’t want him to.”

So, at the end of it, she really did need me to live. Despite her claim that it wasn’t about the cure, it was about the cure. She was dying, and all of her actions up until this moment had been to manipulate me so that she could get that cure.

Even a week ago, had I learned this, I would have been furious. I would have stormed away in anger. However, that felt like a lifetime ago. The current me felt much calmer now. I understood her reasoning. She wasn’t helping me just because. She wanted something, something that I had. It was a relationship that I understood. She wanted to buy the cancer pill, and I wanted to exchange it for resources. In the end, it was just business.

I was considering such things to the point that I didn’t notice her hand had reached out and grabbed the back of my shirt. She held onto me tightly and followed silently.