c8 (1/2)

“… oh, it’s you”

Ludmila said quietly, still with the toothbrush in her mouth.

She twirled the rifle around like a cane, propped it up by the wall and began brus.h.i.+ng her teeth again.

Likewise, s.h.i.+zuru sheathed his knife and awkwardly scratched his cheek.

And then there was the obvious question of what the woman was doing here.

Ludmilla continued to glide the small brush along her teeth, skssh, skssh

Her lightless, lifeless eyes turned to her own reflection in the mirror over the washbasin.

She was charming, with black underwear on white skin, putting a hand on her hip.

“Ludmila … what are you doing in my clinic?”

“I’m brus.h.i.+ng my teeth. Can’t we talk later?”

“… Ah, sure, … mm”

He was weak to pressure.

Besides an examination room and an operating room, s.h.i.+zuru’s clinic was furnished with one bedroom, one bathroom, and one kitchen to make it livable.

In the bedroom that doubled as a dining room, Ludmila picked up one of the cups of coffee put on the table for the two of them and gave it a sip.

s.h.i.+zuru made them, of course.

“I’m sick of staying in that dilapidated shack of a house”

After being woken up by the morning bath and coffee, Ludmila yawned and declared with a sure tone.

“So then I decided to borrow this place”

“Ah … I see”

Lady was an animal to begin with, so she didn’t care as long as she had shelter from the winds and rains.

As for Casca, no matter where she lived, it would be falling to pieces within a month.

With those two around and the one other member of the third squad commuting from home, s.h.i.+zuru paid their living situation no mind.

She had a point though. For a woman with ordinary sensibilites, living in that hideout in the slums would be hard to bear.

Public order was the worst, too.

“But you should’ve just said so. I thought you were a burglar”

“I did say. When we split up last night. In my head”

That means you didn’t say it, right, s.h.i.+zuru wryly smiled.

“Also, I think I locked the door”

“Had a spare key made, it was finished yesterday”

It seems like she had been planning to stay here from the beginning and secretly had a duplicate key made.

She didn’t have to go that far, I would’ve lent her the key if she asked, thought s.h.i.+zuru.

“I’ll pick up my things from the headquarters later. I’ll be staying here until I got transferred to the fourth squad”

“That’s not going to happen soon I think …”

“… haah!?”

s.h.i.+zuru’s remark seemed to rub her the wrong way. Ludmila glared suspiciously at him.

s.h.i.+zuru knew that she was hoping to be a.s.signed to the fourth squad, and also the reason why Richelieu persistently rejected her.

So he just apologized and coolly nodded.

“Well, I don’t really care if you wanted to use this place, but lots of injured and sick people come here, so it would really help if you’d keep that in mind”

“Okay?” he continued. Ludmila raised an eyebrow slightly.

“… like I’ve been telling you, quit that roundabout way of talking! Say it straight, like be quiet when I’m running the shop!”

“Sorry, but where I come from modesty and diffidence are considered virtues. Do understand”

“What kind of country is that …”

Ludmila hated being roundabout. She would get irritated listening to something like that.

For her, s.h.i.+zuru’s gratingly soft way of talking would be really infuriating.