Inside the speeding Mercedes S-Class, Koji Hattori, sitting in the passenger seat, glanced at the interior rearview mirror and immediately looked away.
See no evil.
“Mmm… mwah… slurp…”
The girl’s voice spilled from the back seat to the front.
The two young people made no attempt to avoid Sasaki and Koji Hattori in the front seats.
“Bah! Disgusting! I’m keeping my eyes closed,” Meiguan said disdainfully.
Jiang Jian Yue turned a deaf ear to the voice in her brain, thirstily drinking in the boy’s warmth.
She knew that her emotions were being displayed nakedly in Yuki Asahi’s eyes, teased and manipulated by the tentacles of the Emotional Control ability.
But… it didn’t matter anymore.
Yuki Asahi remained seated, one hand around the girl’s slender waist as she lay across him, the other hand cupping her Face.
Suddenly, he felt Jiang Jian Yue’s hand on his chest move gradually downward, almost sliding to his groin—he shuddered violently, and the light within his Golden Eyes flickered.
Yuki Asahi hurriedly closed his mouth, then grabbed that restless hand and said softly, “Yue! We’re still in the car.”
“Ahem, ahem, ahem.”
Koji Hattori coughed dryly a few times, reaching up to drape a rag over the interior rearview mirror.
Sasaki stared straight ahead with a resolute gaze, playing music through his headphones.
“Hmph.”
Jiang Jian Yue stopped there, removing her hand from his neck to lie flat across Yuki Asahi’s lap, closing her eyes.
Yuki Asahi could feel her negative emotions fading—was it over?
***
Returning to the shared Apartment, Yuki Asahi carried the petite girl with one arm as he opened the Apartment door.
Jiang Jian Yue, who he thought had fallen asleep, suddenly came back to life and jumped down from Yuki Asahi.
She took off her blood-stained coat and tossed it casually into the Shinkai.
Yuki Asahi bent down to pick up the coat and took the battered, ruined garment to the bathroom.
When he returned to the Living Room, Yuki Asahi had also changed out of his blood-stained clothes.
He saw the girl hiding behind the open Refrigerator door, her previous exhaustion completely swept away.
“You were faking sleep!”
“I wasn’t.”
Jiang Jian Yue turned around, ran past the kitchen island to stand before Yuki Asahi, shook her head, then held out both hands and bent her waist slightly.
“I want money.”
“Ahem.”
Struck in the heart, a blushing Yuki Asahi turned his Face away and walked to a gap in the Sofa to pull out a plastic bag.
“Didn’t Yue already solve the family matters? Still no money?”
Jiang Jian Yue shook her head.
“Not solved yet.”
Her card was still frozen, and strictly speaking, she hadn’t returned to her Apartment—that place had already become the Company.
Currently, construction teams transferred from Tokyo University and Russia were rapidly building the Japan DRG Headquarters building.
The preliminary plan was to build a crescent-shaped semi-enclosed building around the Jiang Jian Apartment, and then the second phase of the project planned to build a circular building right against the crescent building—though Jiang Jian Yue suspected this modified draft was the subordinates flattering her, she still agreed.
She had already negotiated with Morita Aoya to receive a portion of the salary every month when it was issued.
Jiang Jian Yue took out her Mobile Phone and typed in her Notebook: “(8) Aren’t you curious what I want the money for?”
Yuki Asahi’s eyes flickered with a hint of disappointment.
He walked behind the kitchen island and reached down to open the Refrigerator.
“If it’s Yue’s business and you don’t want to tell me, it’s useless no matter how I ask. If you wanted to tell me… I shouldn’t need to ask, right?”
Ooh~ throwing a tantrum?
Jiang Jian Yue leaned her body against the island, leaning forward as a slight smile traced the corners of her mouth.
“What do you want to ask… ask everything?”
Yuki Asahi took ingredients out of the Refrigerator, stood up, and thought for a moment.
“I want to know about Yue’s Ability.”
Jiang Jian Yue was slightly stunned.
This matter… she really didn’t want to tell Yuki Asahi.
After all, she was different from the traditional Mind Bug System, and telling Yuki Asahi some things… wasn’t really necessary.
“Hehe, in the end, you still look at Yuki Asahi as a child rather than a man you can depend on,” Meiguan mocked.
Jiang Jian Yue froze—was she actually still thinking that way?
“With a kid like him, the more you take things for granted and shoulder everything yourself, not wanting him to experience what you’ve gone through, the more panicked and insecure he feels.”
Meiguan analyzed with certainty, as if she were very familiar with Yuki Asahi.
“Act a bit more spoiled with this kid, otherwise… if this state continues for long, even the most burning emotions will become exhausted.”
“Thank you, Meiguan.”
“Eh? Is that something Jiang Jian Yue would say?”
“…Get lost.”
Jiang Jian Yue stepped inside the island and took the meat from Yuki Asahi’s hands to help defrost it, saying softly, “I am a Monster.”
Yuki Asahi pulled a western chef’s knife from the rack and began slicing carrots on the cutting board, not saying a word.
“I don’t have a Heart Worm.”
The sound of fabric being pulled aside came from beside him.
Yuki Asahi turned his head sharply and saw those shocking Red Veins on the girl’s smooth skin… like the roots of a towering giant tree digging deep into the soil, they had already spread to her hips.
“How… how did it become so much?”
Yuki Asahi’s eyes widened.
He remembered the last time he saw Jiang Jian Yue’s body, the veins on her body hadn’t been this severe.
“As long as… I come into contact with… a Corpse related to the Mind Bug System… the veins… will extend.”
Jiang Jian Yue pursed her lips, the hand holding her trousers pulling them back up as she raised her hand with her back to Yuki Asahi.
A small patch of her skin turned pitch black, like a suddenly appearing birthmark.
“Does it look familiar?”
The image of that Russian-speaking man at Lake Toya surfaced in Yuki Asahi’s mind, and he nodded gently.
“I can… copy the Ability… of a Corpse.”
Jiang Jian Yue deactivated the Ability, her tone turning somewhat low.
“The price… you’ve seen it. I don’t know… what these veins… extending… means. The duration of the Side Effect… is also getting longer and longer…”
“I will… become a Monster.”
A hint of sorrow lingered in Jiang Jian Yue’s eyes.
“Yue isn’t a Monster.”
Yuki Asahi shifted his gaze back, concentrating on preparing dinner.
“With me here, Yue will never become a Monster.”
Jiang Jian Yue hated the word “forever” coming from people’s mouths, because promised forevers could basically never be fulfilled.
But, she also couldn’t help but uncontrollably crave “forever.”
Hearing those words, her heart still felt a bit touched.
Jiang Jian Yue took a deep breath, turned around with her hands behind her waist, and said, “If… I become… a Monster. Kill me.”
The hand holding the kitchen knife trembled slightly, and then Yuki Asahi’s Face suddenly turned bright red.
He looked down at Jiang Jian Yue, who had already curled up beneath him, and asked through gritted teeth, “Yue? What… what are you doing?”
“I… I haven’t given you… your Christmas Gift yet.”
Jiang Jian Yue swallowed, placing her knees on the floor and adjusting into a comfortable position.
“Also… I have to thank you… for this time.”
“It’s what I should do, Yue doesn’t need to—oh!”
Yuki Asahi was halfway through his sentence when, as if stimulated by something, his waist instantly bent.
“Relax.”