Chapter 65 - Good Deed Subcontract (1/2)

Sheryl shooed Erio and Alicia out of the room. Although from the outside, it looked like Sheryl was only telling them to get back to their work, Erio and Alicia felt like Sheryl was actually telling them to get out from that room and not disturb her and Akira. So they fl.u.s.teredly exited the room.

Sheryl stood up. Akira thought that she would cling onto him again, but instead, she sat across him. She then made a serious face as she said to him.

“Akira, do you have anything you want me to do for you?”

“That’s out of the blue.”

“You always help us, so I was wondering if I can do anything to pay you back after receiving so much. You can ask anything of me or even from all of us.”

Judging from her expression, it did not seem like Sheryl was happy after receiving such an expensive item. But instead, it seemed like it made her rather desperate.

Akira took some time thinking of what to say, but nothing came up in his mind.

“Nothing comes up in my mind at the moment. I’ll come again and ask you when I have anything I want from you.”

Normally, Sheryl would have stopped here after Akira said that, but not this time. She kept her serious expression as she stared at him. From Akira’s point of view, it was as if Sheryl was begging or pleading to him.

“Is there really nothing? You can ask anything. It doesn’t matter if it’s an easy thing or a difficult thing, will you please ask something, anything?”

Sheryl thought that it would be really bad if she did not return Akira’s favour even if it was only a little bit. But she did not even have the slightest hint of what she could do for Akira.

Because of that, Sheryl decided to directly ask Akira. If it was out of Akira’s request rather than her own idea, there would be less chance that it might annoy him, while at the same time, it would also have a better chance to make him happy.

Sheryl, who did not want Akira to abandon her, would do anything that she could for Akira even if he asked her for something difficult. If he told her to get naked, get on her knees, and lick his feet, she might as well do that without a shred of hesitation.

Sheryl’s seriousness was conveyed to Akira. But he did not know what suddenly got into her. Even if she asked him to request something, he could not come up with anything at all.

“Well, even if you ask me so, I really have nothing to ask from you right now…”

Akira understood Sheryl would not back down unless he asked her for something.

He was put under pressure by Sheryl as he was racking his brain for anything to ask of her. He thought that asking her to give him a shoulder ma.s.sage would not be enough. Meanwhile, Sheryl’s serious gaze was being counter-effective, it brought her further away from her objective because it made Akira think that he should not ask an easy thing from her.

After taking his time thinking, Akira finally came up with something.

“Ah, right. In that case, just give the slum children good food and teach them how to read and write.”

Sheryl was dumbfounded when she heard what Akira said. She looked puzzled as she asked him.

“…Is that really enough?”

Sheryl had no idea what kind of profit it would bring Akira even if she did what he asked.

But Akira sounded a bit surprised as he replied.

“To be honest, I thought I asked something that was really hard, you know. If it’s really an easy thing for you, then can you just do that for me? I’ll leave the details to you, but make sure that it’s a realistic plan.”

Sheryl swiftly replied with a serious expression.

“I understand, I’ll give my best in doing it.”

“Aahh, and also, don’t tell anyone that I’m the one asking you to do that. If someone asks you why, just come up with a random excuse.”

Sheryl firmly nodded.

“Alright, I’ll never tell anyone.”

Sheryl had no idea why Akira would ask her to do that. She knew very well that Akira was not someone who was kind enough to ask others to do a good deed. What he asked of her was not something that could bring direct profit for him. And even if Akira did that to get his name out as a good Samaritan, then he would definitely not ask her to hide his name.

But for Sheryl, that was not where the important point laid. The important point was that Akira asked her to do that while thinking that it was a difficult request for her. Thus if she could do it, Akira would at least think she was useful to him.

Sheryl made her resolve that she would make use of anything and everything in order to accomplish Akira’s request.

Alpha did not understand why Akira would even come up with such an idea. She was always quietly but closely observing Akira, a.s.sessing his way of thinking, trying to understand the principles behind his actions, and continuously trying to control him.

But Akira’s action just now was unexpected even to Alpha. In order to understand him deeper, Alpha thought that there was a need to understand the reason behind this action.

Alpha then asked Akira in a very calm manner, such that it prevented him from reading what Alpha was actually thinking, thus hiding her surprise.

“Akira, why did you ask Sheryl to do that?”

“How should I put this, uhh, providing education and food for the slum children is a good deed, right?”

“Well, it sure is.”

“If I ask Sheryl to do that, then it would be my good deed although an indirect one, right? I just thought that it might help me fight my bad luck.”

So basically, it was like a subcontract for Akira’s good deed. If bad deeds beget bad things, then good deeds should beget good things. In short, by pus.h.i.+ng Sheryl to do a good deed, Akira thought that it might help lift some of his bad luck.

In the end, leaving the fact that Akira was seeking a superst.i.tious and occult thing like good luck, the only reason why he asked Sheryl to do that was for his own selfish intention.

“And why did you ask her not to say that it’s your idea?”

“If others come to know that it was my idea, I somehow feel that it would only bring me trouble.”

The reason why Akira asked Sheryl to keep it a secret was to avoid getting roped into any trouble afterwards. It was not a rare story when somebody came to help someone in need and quickly disappeared without asking for any reward or leaving behind any name. Akira was twisted enough to interpret such a heroic story as though that person did not want others to know his or her name because people would swarm into that person for free help. So, it would be a huge pain in the a.s.s if other people knew his ident.i.ty.

Akira was pus.h.i.+ng any possible troubles that might come from such a good deed to Sheryl while trying to reap some profit from it. That was also the reason why he said that he thought it was a difficult request for Sheryl.

Alpha was relieved since it was not like Akira suddenly had a change of heart and became a good person, after all, it meant that she did not misevaluate him. The more selfish Akira was, the easier it was for her to control him, thus it would be troublesome for her if he suddenly became a selfless person.

“I see, I understand now. Although, I don’t think it’ll give the result that you’re hoping.”

“Well, to be honest, I’m not placing much hope for its result anyway. I just randomly came up with that idea. And even if it has no effect at all, it’s not like it’ll cause me any harm.”

“That’s true. Well, even if it causes you some harm later, I don’t mind as long as you don’t try to put your life at risk just to cover for someone else. Remember that I only have you, so I don’t want you to put yourself in unnecessary danger, okay?”

“I have no problem abandoning a hostage who has nothing to do with me. So I won’t do such a thing. You know that all too well don’t you, Alpha?”

“Now that you mention it, you’re right.”

When he was in the underground, Akira did not drop his weapon even when Yajima took Reina hostage. Akira himself knew that he was a cold-hearted person.

But on the other hand, Alpha still remembered when Akira did not hesitate to shoot and kill the person who threatened to harm s.h.i.+zuka inside Sheryl’s base. Akira also took an SOS request, which he had rejected, when he knew Sara and Elena partic.i.p.ated in intercepting the monster swarm even when it meant that he had to go alone.

Alpha could not make any predictions about what Akira would do if one day s.h.i.+zuka or Elena or Sara were taken hostage.

After both of them returned back to Sheryl’s room, Sheryl returned to clinging on Akira again. Although he was planning to leave the base right after, he was overwhelmed by Sheryl as he was pulled by her to her room.

Sheryl was charging herself by clinging to him. Akira did not know it, but Sheryl was actually using him as her psychical support. When she could not contact Akira, she was tremendously stressed. Because of that, she took way more time than usual clinging to him when normally 1 hour would be enough to recover her calmness.

Now that Sheryl had recovered her calm, there were 2 things racing through her mind.

First of all, she was thinking about what she could do to get in a deeper relations.h.i.+p with Akira. Sheryl understood that Akira right now was in a situation where he was susceptible to get swept by the flow. At the moment, he would get swept by the mood no matter how far it would go. Thus, Sheryl was thinking about how to use this chance to get as close as possible to him so that he would not easily abandon her.

Although it was just her baseless intuition, Sheryl thought that if only Akira did something with her, would it give a clear indication about their relations.h.i.+p and prove that she was his favourite.

The other thing that was running inside her mind was that it was time to pull away as she was still clinging on Akira. Even though there was a similar aged beautiful girl, who had told him that he could do anything he wanted to her in the past, clinging to him right now, he did not do anything to her at all. Sheryl did not know whether it was because Akira simply had no interest in such a thing or it was because he was holding himself back since he knew that it would cause him a lot of trouble.

It would be pointless if she rushed herself in trying to get close to Akira to only annoy him instead. If Akira looked annoyed when she was clinging to him, it would damage her psychical state too, and that was something that she would not want to happen.

Akira noticed that Sheryl had a lot of things inside her mind. But he did not know what she was thinking nor had any interest in knowing about it at all. He only thought that Sheryl must have a lot of things to worry about as the boss of the gang and stopped thinking any further.

He then spent some time talking with Sheryl to gather some information about the slum city. Suddenly someone knocked on the door. They both quickly turned towards the source of that sound. The person who just knocked at the door waited outside for an answer.

“Come in.”

After Sheryl replied back, Alicia entered the room. Showing her close relations.h.i.+p with Akira was an important thing for Sheryl to keep her position as the gang’s leader as well as for the safety of her gang. Akira understood that too, that was why he did not try to get Sheryl off his lap. But he still felt a little bit embarra.s.sed being seen like this, thus he averted his eyes from Alicia to a random place in the room.

Sheryl was still clinging on Akira as she asked Alicia.

“Do you need anything?”

“Ah, it’s nothing, it’s already your bath time. So I was wondering if you’re going to take a bath today. If you’re not then someone else might use the bath instead.”

Alicia was there to remind Sheryl that it was her bath time.

There was a bathroom inside the gang’s base. Everyone in the gang was using the bath in turns since it was not big enough for all. Due to the same reason, the bathroom was always occupied except for when it was cleaned, or when the next person took his or her turn. And with more and more children joining the gang, it was incredibly difficult for everyone to get their turn for taking a bath every day.

Because of that, Sheryl wanted to limit herself from occupying the bath for an extended time. It was not like she could not do that, but it’ll definitely cause displeasure among her subordinates. And so Sheryl always used the bath every day at a fixed time.

Since Sheryl was not using the bath even though it was already her bath time, Alicia came to check her. If she was not going to use the bath, Alicia was planning to use the bath with Erio before letting other children use it.

Sheryl was a bit surprised when she realized how long she had been talking with Akira.

“It’s already that late? I’ll go, wait for a sec.”

Sheryl stepped down from Akira and grabbed her toiletries, she kept her toiletries in her room since it would be gone in no time if she left them in the bathroom.