Chapter 64 (1/2)

Index

Editor: Silavin

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Sheryl was busy with her work inside her room. She was making a rather scary face while working on her desk. She was being way too focused on her job as if she was trying to avert her attention from something else.

She was in such a bad mood for the last few days. Because of that, her underlings were being very careful not to worsen her mood.

Everyone in her gang knew the reason why Sheryl was in such a bad mood. It was nothing other than Akira who had not visited the base for the last few days. Although it was a simple reason, it was also a serious one at the same time.

Sheryl’s gang was able to exist because of Akira’s support. Although they were armed, they only had anti-human weapons such as handguns. And it was not like any of its members was familiar to fighting. Unlike Shijima’s gang, Sheryl’s gang did not have the ability to secure its position on its own.

The only reason why they could stay relatively safe in the slum city was because the other gangs were being wary of Akira. The incident between Shijima and Akira had already spread among the gangs in the slum city.

As long as they had Akira behind them, no one would risk their own life needlessly by picking a fight against Sheryl’s gang. Because of that, her gang’s safety was guaranteed in the middle of such a violent place.

But Akira had not been visiting Sheryl’s base lately. So it was to be expected for her to be that worried and all the children under Sheryl’s gang understood it. But there was a subtle difference between Sheryl’s thoughts and her underlings’ understanding of the situation.

Sheryl was alone inside her room, so there was no need for her to keep up her appearance to fool the other children. But even so, she was intentionally making a scary face. Rather than to fool others, it was in order to fool herself.

Sheryl was desperately trying to suppress her panic, anxiety and terror that was welling up inside her. She was putting a lid on those feelings by making an irritated expression.

Up until now, she was able to fool her underlings. Everyone thought that she was only in a bad mood. But its effect on herself was running close to its limit.

The reason why Sheryl was in such a panic, the reason why she was so worried, the reason why she was trembling in fear were all caused by one simple reason. It was because she could not contact Akira.

Since he had not been visiting her place lately, Sheryl tried to contact Akira using her information terminal. But her call did not get through at all, it was not just simply because she could not establish a connection to Akira’s information terminal, but it was because the target terminal was not found. That was what her information terminal was saying every time she tried to make a call.

Akira did say to Sheryl once in the past that if she could not contact his information terminal, then she should assume that he was dead. And that was exactly what she was facing right now.

Sheryl actually depended on Akira on a deeper level. Her psyche was anchored at the fact that Akira was willing to help her. To support her spirit as she maintained her position and acted as the boss of her gang, she relied on Akira’s words when he said that he would help her.

She noticed the ominous sound inside her which signalled a crack on the anchor that supported her spirit. She would instantly scream and cry the moment that anchor fully broke.

The calm side of Sheryl was counting the number of days before her core broke down as if it had nothing to do with her. At best, it would be a few weeks, and at worst, it would just be a few days. If anything bad happened, it might even be a few hours. As the voice inside her head was silently counting down that number, Sheryl could feel her spirit being shaved bit by bit.

Sheryl kept trying to distract herself as much as possible from what was actually in front of her. That was why her eyes were making such a scary gaze. But she would not last much longer.

Erio suddenly entered her room without knocking at the door.

Sheryl turned to Erio, she looked terrifying as she glared at him.

“Didn’t I tell you to knock first before entering my room?”

Erio was scared by that silent pressure from Sheryl as he answered.

“I-I’m sorry. I’ll be careful next time.”

“So then, why are you here?”

“Akira-san is here. Should I just bring him to this room?”

The intense pressure that Sheryl was oozing out completely vanished in an instant when she heard what Erio just said.

—*—*—*—

Akira who was brought to Sheryl’s room was sitting on a sofa, his expression saying that he was really uncomfortable. It was because Sheryl was sitting on his lap.

Sheryl looked delighted as she circled her arm around Akira’s neck. He knew that something like this would happen and he thought that he should get used to it soon, that was why he let Sheryl do as she wanted.

Sheryl looked completely relaxed as if she was in heaven.

“I’m happy to get to see you. I’m sure that you’re busy, but if it’s possible, I hope you would come here more often. So, were you too busy? Is it okay if I ask you what happened?”

“Well, I almost got killed.”

Akira answered back with a low voice as if he was whispering. Because of that, for some reason, Sheryl caught it as a bad joke.

To Sheryl, Akira’s survival was crucial. Thus, she could not just ignore such a statement even if it was only a joke. Both for the well-being of her gang and her psychical health, it would be problematic if he died.

Sheryl looked worried as she hesitantly asked Akira.

“…Uhmmm, if it was a joke, I’ve heard about it before too. I’m sorry but it’s not funny. So please don’t say such a thing even as a joke.”

Sheryl’s expression was half intentional. She deliberately adjusted her expression to suit her voice.

From doing her usual everyday business, she had trained her ability to control the impression that she would give to other people. If she did that to the other children in her gang, her beauty would amplify its effect and cause that person to be ridden with guilt for saying such a bad joke while also giving the sense of happiness from having such a beautiful girl worry about him or her.

But what she said now was also her real feeling. Her voice and her expressions were nothing but high-quality tools to help her convey her message.

But then Akira answered back calmly.

“I’m not lying and it’s not a joke. I really almost got killed back then and this time too.”

Sheryl understood from the way he said it that Akira was serious. His voice did not sound as if he was exaggerating or boasting over a lie.

She was so panicked now that she understood Akira really almost got killed twice and her mask immediately crumbled down.

Sheryl moved her hands from Akira’s back to his shoulders as she pushed herself away so she could sit face to face with him.

“A-are you alright?”

“Just like you can see, I’m super healthy right now. I don’t feel any pain and I’m not wounded at all.”

Sheryl sighed out of relief. She understood that Akira did not say that just to look strong.

She then returned back to hugging Akira.

“…Please don’t make me worry like that.”

Most of the people would have hugged Sheryl back and told her something to reassure her in this situation. But someone as twisted as Akira just answered back calmly as if it was nothing at all.

“That would be impossible. Facing danger is our occupational hazard as a Hunter.”

It was obvious from her face that Sheryl did not like Akira’s answer, she then worriedly said to Akira.

“That’s true… But still…”

Looking at how Sheryl looked to be in so much pain, Akira tried to think of the reason behind it. But as expected, since he had a twisted personality, he could only come up with twisted answers.

Akira thought that the reason why Sheryl was fawning over him was for the sake of maintaining her gang. And he could accept that reason. After all, he, who had spent his life in the slum city, knew well just how scary living in the slum city could be, thus he could understand why Sheryl would be so desperate.

Although Sheryl only did it because Akira pushed that job to her, she was also maintaining her position as the head of her gang with his support. That was why Akira thought that it was not strange for her to be so desperate in trying to stay on his good side.

That also meant once Sheryl’s gang acquired enough influence to support itself, it would not need Akira’s support any longer and Sheryl would lose any reason to keep her relationship with him. At that point, they might as well leave him alone. That was what Akira thought.

Sheryl’s expression turned more worried as she said to Akira with a shaky voice.

“…I’m trying my best to strengthen the gang. I understand very well that we’re always relying on you. But please stop talking about your death.”

“…Hm? Alright.”

From how Sheryl was acting, her painful voice, and her arm that tightened around him, Akira at least understood that he should not say what he had said back then. But he did not understand just how many times he had made that mistake up until now.

Akira did not know what he should say and stayed quiet. Sheryl also did not say anything while still hugging Akira.

Since the time when Sheryl begged at Akira while crying and he answered her pleas, since the time when she was looking for someone to lean onto and Akira gave her a place, since the day when her spirit was broken by the truth of her situation and was constructed back up by the sense of security that Akira provided, although she seemed to be doing the same thing on the surface, the reason behind her actions were completely changed compared to before.

The reason why she worked so hard developing her gang was so that she could hand over the gang once it was properly developed to Akira in order to return the favour.

Sheryl had offered her body to Akira once, but he rejected that offer.

She was a very beautiful girl according to the standard in that place. For a slum city girl, she grew up very healthy and her attire was neat and beautiful, her overall appearance was even better than most of the people in the lower district of the Kugamayama city. Since she was living in a relatively blessed condition when she was under Sibea’s protection, the beauty that she acquired was not tainted by the living situation in the slum city.

But when Sheryl told Akira that he could do anything he wanted with her extremely beautiful body, Akira completely rejected her offer saying that she would not be able to help him out in case they fought against monsters, not even as a diversion. As such, Sheryl understood that she could not use her body to repay Akira’s kindness nor to maintain her good relationship with him.

Sheryl did not know why Akira helped her. She did not consider the possibility that Akira did it since he thought that doing a good deed might help him fight against his bad luck. After all, she could not imagine him believing in such a baseless thing. She thought that he only did it out of a whim due to his kindness.

At the moment, she had nothing of value that she could use to repay Akira’s kindness. But even so, he was still helping her out, thus piling the favour that she wished to repay one day.

Sheryl thought that if she did not expand the gang’s influence and somehow earned some profits that she could give back to Akira, and if she did not make him think that he was glad he helped her out, Akira might one day just abandon her.

In truth, Akira was not that eager to abandon Sheryl as much as she thought. While at the same time, she was also not eager to cut her relationship with him as much as he thought. But both of them thought that eventually the other person would end their relationship and that misunderstanding caused her to cling onto Akira even more.

Sheryl thought that she had to do something about the strange silence after that small exchange. So she came up with another subject to talk about.

“Uhmm, I tried to contact you, but I couldn’t get any connection at all.”

“Aahhh, right, the information terminal that I was using was destroyed. I came here today to tell you the contact number for my new information terminal.”

Akira lifted her aside and pulled out a small information terminal. Sheryl also went and picked up her information terminal that was on her desk.

She then sat beside Akira and operated her terminal to exchange their contact number. After completing the task, she put her information terminal on the table near her and was about to return back to sitting on Akira’s lap facing him.

Akira thought that Sheryl had finished hugging him, thus he stopped her.

“Wait, are you going to continue doing that?”

“Yes. Since we’ve exchanged contact numbers, it’s okay if I continue hugging you, right?”

“Since you already got off once, shouldn’t that be enough?”

“No, I became so worried when I heard that you almost got killed. So I won’t let go until I completely recover from my stress. It’s already tiring enough managing the gang, that’s why I’ll need to keep hugging you for longer than usual.”

“But like, you have your own job to take care of, right?”

“I’m going by priority. While I’m recovering from my mental stress by clinging onto you, it’ll also show the other gang members that we’re getting along well. So this is a very important thing for the sake of maintaining the gang and retaining the gang’s position among the other gangs in the slum city.”

“No one is looking though, so isn’t it pointless doing something like that here?”

“Should I call someone then?”

“Please don’t.”

Akira also understood well that it was important to show the others of their good relationship in order to maintain Sheryl’s position in the gang. But he was not that brazen as to show off to others as he was being hugged by a girl.

As long as he and Sheryl were alone in her private room, others would at least make their own guesses as to what they were doing inside. Akira at least tolerated that much.

Sheryl once again sat on Akira’s lap while hugging him. People would definitely misunderstand if they saw them now.

Sometime later, Erio entered the room after knocking.

Sheryl turned to Erio while still hugging Akira.

“…Erio, it’s true that I did say to knock first before entering the room, but you can’t enter the room until the person inside gives you permission, you know?”

Erio looked scared as he answered back.

“I-I’m sorry.”

“So, why are you here?”

Sheryl gazed at Erio, as though saying that it would cost him a lot if he had no good reason for interrupting her.

Erio looked frightened under Sheryl’s gaze as he answered back.

“Katsuragi-san is here. He said he has something to discuss with you. I made him wait in the reception room for now… Should I… tell him that you’re busy right now?”

Although he was not as important as Akira, Katsuragi was also an important person for the well-being of the gang. After all, most of the income of the gang came from Katsuragi. Thus they could not afford to be rude to him.

“…Tell him that I’ll immediately meet him.”

Sheryl suppressed her desire to keep clinging on Akira as she replied.

—*—*—*—

Katsuragi was sitting on the sofa inside the reception room. On the other side of the table, Akira and Sheryl were sitting on another sofa with Erio and Alicia standing behind them.