[Kyosuke POV]

I took a deep breath and stared at the door to the conference room. The hour of judgment was upon us. My hand was shaking a bit as I reached for the handle. Who knows what horrors were awaiting me when I gave it a turn and pulled it open? The devil may have been planning an ambush for me.

My teeth clenched as I imagined all of the members of human resources sitting inside preparing to reprimand and terminate me on the spot. I was walking into a firing squad and there was nothing I could do to stop it.

“Um, Senpai? Is something wrong?”

Furukawa-san’s delicate voice snapped me back into reality. I couldn’t fathom how long I was hesitating but apparently it was long enough for her to speak up about it.

“I know sitting in an enclosed room with her is the last thing you want to do but we should just get it over with.”

Enclosed room…?

Makino-san was attempting to integrate some logic into all of this but his words had the opposite effect.

Flashbacks of last night swarmed by vision. The last time I was in an enclosed room with that demon she and I…

I clenched my fists and huffed snapping myself back to reality. The wave of emotions swelling within my thoughts were pushed down as far as they could go. At the very least, I had to act professional. Who knows, this may be the very last time I could demonstrate that side of me to my two beloved subordinates.

My hand clasped the handle turning it swiftly and opening the door with confidence. I ushered Furukara-san and Makino-san inside.

The room was calm, tranquil almost. I breathed a small sigh of relief as only the marketing team was sitting in chairs along the large conference room table. That relief was short lived of course as I continued to avert my gaze from the devil’s presence. I could still sense her ominous aura swelling around the entire room.

We took our seats on the opposite side of the table and exchanged greetings and civility as possible. Furukawa-san and Makino-san opened their tablets and connected keyboards to take notes during the meeting. I never bothered since there were only a few key things from these presentations that I required to do my job. That has always been a major point of contention between me and Devil Shoko.

As much as I wanted to act like a diligent employee and start taking notes I was afraid that would send off some kind of alarm. No, I had to keep up appearances and act as if everything was normal.

Still, that didn’t stop the beads of sweat from forming along my hairline. Shaking the horrid thoughts aside, I kept my focus on the large television mounted upon the wall where the first slide of the presentation welcomed us.

“Shall we begin?”

The demon’s voice was a bit low but still contained her tinge of radiant confidence. I can only imagine what she must be thinking right now. The President of the company personally firing me in front of the entire company. My severed head on a skewer. Dancing on my grave.

Thankfully the transitioning click of her mouse to the next slide snapped me out of my grotesque and dismal fantasy. Images appeared of our latest product with some notes. This was everything I had discussed in my quick chat with Fumi-chan yesterday that set off this horrid series of events.

I couldn’t even pay attention to the demon’s voice as she continued her explanation. The droning of my subordinate’s keyboards was getting louder and louder. All of her words blended together in a hum of white noise as my eyes bore into the television screen.

My heart started to pound with renewed ferocity. I knew it. I couldn’t take being in this room alone with her. This was torture! How could anyone just sit still while the fate of their career or even life hung in the balance? Why must I endure such maddening thoughts?

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God, please save me.

“Excuse me, Senpai?”

Furukawa-sans gentle words immediately brought me back to reality. I’m not sure what slide we were on but my focus immediately shifted and steeled. It was an image of the new company we were attempting to break into; one of F-Mart’s competitors. They had almost twice as many stores as our biggest customer and we’ve always had some difficulty selling a high-end product to a company that values cost and convenience.

I turned my head and addressed my gracious subordinate directly.

“Y-Yes?”

“Abukara-senpai asked us if we had any questions about the product. Do you have any?”

I shook my head and sighed. Out of the corner of my eye I could see the devil’s eyes looming upon me. I hadn’t looked at her once since we’ve been in here. It would be too weird if I just sat here quietly and avoided her altogether. No, I had to make it seem like everything was normal.

A smile graced my lips as I turned and looked deep into her demonic purple eyes without flinching or faltering.

“Please continue, Abukara.”

Yes! Nice one Kyosuke!

The mouse slipped from the devil’s grip for a moment. Did she not expect that type of reaction? Her eyes darted back towards her laptop screen as she frantically clicked to the next slide.

I raised an eyebrow as her behavior was very suspicious.

What’s going on with Devil Shoko?

The cool and collected demeanor she greeted us with appeared to be a façade. I knew it. She couldn’t even bare to look at me after I defiled her. Maybe she was trying to bury the thoughts of what happened between and tried to maintain some semblance of professionalism, but it was obvious that she wasn’t keeping it together.

Despite my overall sentiment towards Abukara, I didn’t want to see her like this. When she gets upset and yells at me at least she’s showing some passion. It was almost as if I had broken her resolve and she was desperately trying to put herself back together for the good of the company.

Perhaps Akira was right. Maybe I have misjudged her.

“Are there any questions?”

I heard her loud and clear at that point pulling me out of my pit of eternal solace. Peeking back at the screen I saw the slide had a picture of all of the store locations for this potential new client. My mind flipped the switch and turned back into sales mode.

My fingers gently stroked my chin as I spoke.

“What are our estimates for distribution? How soon can we get the product to the customer?”

An eerie air of silence fell over the conference room. I was still staring at the last slide waiting for Abukara’s response. This sort of delay was not like her. I turned my head and she appeared to be trembling.

W-What the hell?!

I knew it. She couldn’t even bare to hear me speak. Just the thought of anything coming out of the lips that ravished her last night was taking a toll on her mental stability. Even though she was my nemesis, I didn’t want things to end up like this.

“W-We’re expecting to begin shipping the first wave of products around the last week of November with an on shelf date of December 1.”

That was surprising. Okamoto-kun took the immediate initiative and spoke up. A wave of relief washed over her as she let out a soft sigh.

“Can we guarantee that?”

This was a big question for me because it was always a big question for our clients. Talking about work always seemed to bolster my confidence. I was glad that I could at least pull myself out of drowning in the pool of awful memories and take a breath.

Abukara turned her sharp gaze towards me.

“Absolutely.”

It was as if I had been stricken by an incredible hammer of energy. Where did she get this renewed resolve from? Had she been toying with me all of this time and was just waiting for the opportunity to strike?

I knew we were getting into the tail end of the presentation and desperately wanted to focus on that to get back my resolve.

I can’t believe I felt sorry for her! Devil Shoko is showing her true colors after all.

“T-Then, let’s discuss distribution further.”

The next few minutes blended altogether in a blur. I couldn’t regain my focus after that. The demon had sapped my strength with a single word, and it took everything I had just to sit upright and look at the screen without faltering.

Maybe this was her plan all along. I was on a fool’s errand to try and sway the biggest convenience store chain in the whole of Japan to distribute our products. This was a plan to humiliate me!

Once I returned defeated, she’d have more than enough ammunition to get me fired. Perhaps she was just stifling her conflicted emotions to get through this and wanted to disgrace me on the biggest stage possible.

I clenched my fist and gritted my teeth.

Damn her! She was playing me all along!

All of the thoughts of my impending doom immediately subsided as the final slide of the presentation came onto the screen.

“That concludes our presentation. If you have any questions – “

Abukara glanced over at me and fell immediately silent for a moment. She turned away, pressing the rims of her glasses towards her face and

“P-Please send me an email and I will respond as quickly as I can.”

I raised an eyebrow as my curiosity got the best of me. Her tepidness seemed to restore my confidence.

What the…? Wouldn’t you typically say ‘come and discuss them with me’? Why was she being indirect and informal all of the sudden?

And just like that, the hour flew by, and our meeting was over. I was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief knowing I didn’t have to be contained in this box with the devil herself any longer.

Everyone stood up and started shaking each other’s hands. I had saved the devil for last of course. My arm extended forward as I took a deep breath and reached for her hand.

“Thank you for your - !”

The words were immediately cut from my throat as I clasped her slender and delicate hand into mine. It was as if I were gripping a warm cloud wrapped in silk.

W-Was her hand always this soft?

We hadn’t been this close since the incident last night. Her perfume wafted delicately into the air and quickly found their way back into my lungs.

Hard, powerful beats began to drum in my chest. We had shaken hands hundreds of times, begrudgingly mostly but it had never felt like this before. Blood was beginning to invade my precious and confined expression. I immediately peeked forward, catching her eyes in mine and involuntarily snapped my neck to the side averting my gaze.

“G-Good luck on your sales meeting.”

I released her hand quickly and followed my team out the door. It formed into a fist as I desperately tried to quench the wave of unwelcome emotions from sinking into my conscious any further. My entire week would be ruined if I didn’t snap out of this and get my head back into the game.

Fortunately, any additional meetings or discussions before my meeting with the client would be rare. And yet, despite all of that, I couldn’t get the thought of her warm touch out of my mind.