Chapter 223 - Just The Two Of Us

I was wondering about how Lilith was doing. This morning she looked fine, but I know that she was trying her best to appear normal to me. Especially after what happened last night. I was a bit worried about her.

I finally understood the reason as to why she couldn't tell me about the contract. It wasn't because she enjoyed making things difficult for me. Last night was the first time I genuinely felt bad for her, even since she came.

I felt horrible for calling her a self-centred sadistic bitch.

It wasn't even in her control. I forgot to ask her about the curse because after what I saw; I didn't want her to suffer like that again just to prove a point. She was surely a crazy woman. Though I was curious about the person who cast a curse upon Lilith.

My conversation with her was quite weird. She was saying things which weren't making any sense to me whatsoever. Her eyes looked empty, yet they strived for something. Her tone prevailed, a painful realisation as she said, "I'll be free."

What did she mean by being free?

The more I thought about her, the more complicated everything seemed and the more confused I ended up getting. The brief glimpse of her past was quite disturbing. But there were certain instances when I felt like it wasn't actually her past but rather her subconscious fears.

Every time I think about it, I get chills. It was probably after that day that I stopped looking at Lilith the way I used to. There certainly was more to her than what met the eyes.

I saw them. 

Her eyes.

Those empty gentle eyes which wished for something strong but also had given up on it.

It was all really familiar to me.

Maybe it was the first time I was trying to understand her as a person rather than a devil. She may call herself a devil, but her eyes seemed quite human to me last night.

I was returning from the biology laboratory as our teachers were catching up on the practicals since our midterms were next week. Though, students were quite relaxed about this. Mid-sem exams were something that everyone took really lightly, including me.

This week was also about to end, as it was Thursday already. I'm sure Reina was already studying for the exams. Actually, she studies all year consistently, so she doesn't really need to study, especially for exams.

Now students like me and Tsūmen were people who opened the book a night before the exam. Though I wasn't as lazy as Tsūmen, I usually start studying when there's one week remaining.

It was a free period, so I wasn't in any hurry to reach the classroom. It was quite a sunny day, even though the air was chilly. I was wearing my shirt with the sleeves down and also my tie was fixed to my neck. I was looking like an honour student.

Which wasn't true at all.

The real reason for that was because I had a hickey on my neck, which would be visible in plain sight, thanks to a certain individual named Shiraishi. So I had no option other than wearing the tie like it's meant to be. And sleeves were down because the weather was a bit chilly.

Overall, it gave me the appearance of an honours student.

As I walked down the stairs and turned around the corner, I noticed Shiraishi along with Morika walking towards me. They seemed to notice me too, as Shiraishi waved at me with a bright smile on her face.

She was as energetic as always.

I internally sighed because talking with her requires some genuine effort from my side. I waved at her and gave her a small nod. 

She quickly paced towards me and held my right hand with both of her hands as she looked at me with curious eyes. Morika rolled her eyes at her, as Shiraishi asked, "What good timing! I wanted to talk to you."

Her touch was warm, and her hands were quite soft. My eyes shifted towards her, as I noticed a smug on her face. I pretty much got an idea why it was a good timing. The voice of Moriko turned my attention towards her as she looked at Shiraishi and said, "I'll leave you two then."

With that she proceeded to walk towards her class, but a frown formed on Shiraishi's face as she said, "Eh… wait na…"

Moriko's eyes subtly glanced at me for an instant. She rested her hands on her hips and said in a bitter tone, "I don't want to be the third wheel here." 

Despite her bitter tone, Shiraishi didn't seem to mind it at all. I assumed that maybe Moriko used to talk like that. With a smile on her face, she waved her off, "I'll catch up with you then."

With a nod, she proceeded to walk. Before leaving, she glanced at me blankly with her eyes, but as soon as our eyes met, she averted her gaze and continued like nothing happened. 

It was quite weird.

Even though it seemed rather harmless to Shiraishi, I had a strong gut feeling that Moriko didn't like her at all. But she couldn't just leave her friend, that's why used to stay by her side.

Though it was too early for me to assume anything back then.

Shiraishi was watching the figure of Moriko walk away before her gaze returned to me and she smiled at me awkwardly. In a low yet amused tone, she said, "So… now that it's the two of us…"

"Yes, I can see that." I replied plainly, which seemed quite the mood destroyer at that moment as she puffed up her cheeks and stared at me with a frown, "So what's your answer?"

"Huh?" I tried to avoid the topic for some time, but she was sharp. Her grip tightened on my hand as she gave me one of those threatening smiles and asked in a polite tone, "Don't play dumb.. I know, you know exactly what I'm talking about."