Chapter 264 - It's Not Shiraishi

It was a random evening during the weekdays. I was sitting on my computer chair, skimming through a few documents of mine while listening to some music when I heard the door of my bedroom slam open.

Being surprised by the sudden noise, I took off my headphones in a rush and noticed a very restless Lilith standing in front of the door. She had an expression of dread on her face as she strolled inside the room.

"Is everything alright?" I asked, which just made her burst out in irritation. With a frown on her face, she went on, "No! Nothing is alright! Dammit!!"

I was caught off guard by her sudden outburst. She appeared way too agitated at that moment. Being confused, I decided to press her, "What happened, Devil-chan?" 

She did reply to me as her crimson eyes seemed to be lost in thoughts. The very moment she was yelling at me, but the next, she was quiet and zoned out. A silence grew between us which I found rather unnecessary.

"And don't yell like that. It makes you look dumber than you already are." I broke the silence as her eyes shifted towards me in an instant and she said in a stiff tone, "I'm not in the mood for this kind of jokes, Saishi."

She was calling me by first name. Something was definitely wrong therefore I decided on not making sarcastic comments like that.

Was I scared of her?

No.

I just didn't want to add to her trouble since she already appeared to be in a rough situation.

"Jeez, did something happen?" I asked in a rather casual tone but she didn't seem to be fazed by it at all. She was staring at me, but her mind was somewhere else. Seeing her composure, I added, "You can tell me if you want."

Over the past few months, I have spent so much time with her that a fact genuinely blew my mind.

And the fact was that I was getting better at cold reading a Devil.

"Of course I'll tell you. Otherwise I wouldn't have broken into your room like that." She retorted while rolling her eyes, as I replied back, "It sure looks serious enough."

Looking at her behaviour, I assumed the gravity of the situation to be way more dense than what it already was. I have seen her that much restless so it genuinely concerned me.

"Am I in trouble?" I asked with a bit of hesitation in my voice. Turning towards me, her eyebrows tensed up as she sighed, "No… wha… why would you think that?"

"Nah, I get kinda paranoid when I think about doing something wrong in the contract." I expressed my honest concerns to her. She clicked her tongue and shook her head in disapproval.

"Saishi… no you're not in trouble. Sit back." She assured me while looking at me with her gentle eyes. I chuckled sheepishly, "Ah, that's a relief. Then what is it?"

I stopped laughing and noticed her staring at me with a dubious look on her face. Narrowing my eyes, I shook my head in a questioning manner as she asked, "Why are you being nice to me?"

She was asking that as if I'm always mean to her.

"I don't see any reason to not be." I replied in a plain manner. She wasn't pleased with my answer in particular, but she wasn't displeased too. Nodding her head, she mumbled, "Fair enough."

I wonder what sort of image she had of me back then.

I was staring at her without saying anything, waiting for her to continue the conversation since she was the one who brought this ordeal with her a few moments ago.

Her hands were crossed across her chest while I could hear a muffled noise from the constant tapping of her left foot on the floor. Clicking her tongue, she said out loud, "I don't understand… how can this be!?"

"Would you just tell me?" I asked her with a eager voice as she turned towards me and laughed awkwardly. With a frown on her face, she said, "Alright, but don't be mad at me."

"Why would I be?" I chuckled at her chilidish behaviour. She reminded me of whenever I would break something and then tell my mum to be not mad at me.

"Because… It's about the target." She answered hesitantly and I got a pretty good idea of what she was about to say. Narrowing my eyes at her, I said in a low tone, "It's not Shiraishi. I know."

As those words left my mouth, the expression on Lilith's changed. Her eyes grew wide in shock and her eyebrows became more tensed than before. With utter disbelief illustrating on her face, she asked, "What? How!?"

I was well aware of the fact that Shiraishi wasn't the target since last week. And after what happened with her, it made me even more certain about my claim regarding Shiraishi.

That explains why I always felt something was weird about Shiraishi.

She never gave of vibes I got from the other targets.

There was a lot of questions running in my mind at that moment but I was more relieved about the fact that the identity of real target was revealed at last. All those weeks of hardwork went to a waste.

"I mean… I wasn't sure but judging from your reaction, it seems like I'm right." I said in my usual plain tone since it wasn't an incident of surprise to me. I knew about it from last week.

"I don't get it! How did I make such a trivial mistake!?" Lilith said in a frustrated tone. She grew even more restless, and asked me, "And, who is the target then?"

I was a bit dubious about Lilith's agitated behaviour because it was the time she was acting like that. I understood the fact that she messed up identifying the target for the contract, but she was being way too hard on herself at the moment.

It wasn't my problem.

And for the target, of course, it was her.

"Adachi Moriko.." I spoke out the name of the real target as Lilith tilted her head in confusion and we stared at each other, as a thick silence grew between us.