"So, it was you all along..." Natsu Kuri looked at Xu Xiaoyou, her eyes filled with utter disbelief.
"It's me."
Over the past half month, the Night Walkers' operations had faced numerous obstacles. Eight-Spider seemed to know their every move. After several failed missions, her companions had begun to point the finger of blame at her.
Even the location where that damnable devil, Chi Tianyi, was being held had been discovered by Eight-Spider. He had been intercepted by an Eight-Spider armed squad during the transfer.
These lunatics intended to use Chi Tianyi to extort a massive sum of money from the Chi family. Just thinking about how such a piece of scum, who deserved death a thousand times over, would soon go free, and that more innocent girls and families would fall victim to him, Natsu Kuri's nails dug so deep into her palms they nearly drew blood.
She was sinking deeper and deeper into a cold mire. Every breath sucked foul, rotting sludge into her mouth. It felt as if the wails of countless girls were echoing in her ears, as if countless innocent hands were reaching up from below, dragging her down, obscuring her vision...
...making her unwilling to face what she saw.
"Why, Yuzu...?"
Natsu Kuri forced herself to meet Xu Xiaoyou's gaze. She was teetering, looking as though a gentle push would knock her over.
The girl who had accompanied her through countless days and nights, providing comfort—the humorous, considerate, and understanding girl—was gone. That mask did more than just block her sight; it was like a massive rift separating them completely. It whispered incessantly: "Look, didn't I play the part of Yuzu well? Playtime is over. Standing before you is merely a devil who excels at manipulating hearts."
The countless memories of her time with the girl became illusory, like reaching a crossroads at sunset and walking in opposite directions. From that moment on, their paths diverged, never to cross again, their outlines blurring until they became strangers.
"Yuzu, you're just lying to me, right?" Natsu Kuri couldn't accept so many blows at once. She was on the verge of a breakdown, her voice thick with suppressed, trembling sobs.
"You're just joking with me. This is all fake. You and the others just teamed up to put on a show to trick me, right?"
"This joke isn't funny at all. I don't want to play anymore. Let's go back..."
"It seems you still haven't grasped the situation." Xu Xiaoyou sighed softly. An Eight-Spider member beside her respectfully handed her an M1911 handgun. Right in front of Natsu Kuri, she chambered a round and flicked off the safety.
Natsu Kuri's eyes trembled. She recognized the gun; it was the one she had handed to the other girl during the chaos at the steel plant.
Sparrow, who had been suspended in the air, was lowered. The terror on her face was deep and visceral. The girl's pupils dilated and contracted repeatedly as she looked at the barrel pressed against her forehead, then at Natsu Kuri. She struggled with all her might, but it was futile.
"What are you doing!?" Sparrow roared at Natsu Kuri, her face contorted with rage. "Young lady, are you trying to get us all killed!?"
"Wait, Yuzu, don't!" Distraught, Natsu Kuri crawled toward Xu Xiaoyou. Her shapely calves and knees were scraped bloody by the gravel and glass shards on the ground.
Bang— The girl's heart-wrenching scream was drowned out by the piercing gunshot. Amidst the flickering muzzle flash, Natsu Kuri watched helplessly as Sparrow's body fell limp, collapsing before her. Tear tracks marked her dull eyes.
Xu Xiaoyou glanced at the subordinates nearby. Someone quickly understood, stepping forward to drag Sparrow's body away. Natsu Kuri could only cover her mouth, kneeling on the ground like a puppet with its strings cut. Tears dried on her face. The once lively little witch had lost all her luster, turning dim and lifeless.
An endless cold and silence enveloped Natsu Kuri. Xu Xiaoyou's voice echoed in her ears:
"This is the price of blindly trusting others."
"If you continue to be so naive and foolish, your remaining companions will die because of your nature, little family head."
Natsu Kuri looked up, a single tear tracing a silent path down her face. "So... you knew all along."
"Of course. They offered me a deal I couldn't refuse. All it took was getting close to you and feeding you a few sweet words to make you drop all your defenses."
"Have you forgotten why I fled to Red Heaven in the first place?" Xu Xiaoyou caressed her mask with intoxicated, wicked delight, her tone eerie.
Only then did Natsu Kuri recall that the other girl had come here because she was a wanted criminal. From the very beginning, she had approached her as a demon. It was her own naivety and selfishness that had blinded her, bringing this demon to her companions and leading to today's events.
"You were actually naive enough to think this world was your personal fairy tale, where everything revolves around happy endings? How laughable."
"The leverage you possess is enough for me to stage a comeback from the lowest of depths. I will return to the gambling table as the absolute victor and win everything once again. Lady Luck has always favored me; she has never looked away."
"Victory!"
Xu Xiaoyou threw her arms wide, embracing a non-existent deity. Her arrogant tone made her seem like a completely different person from the gentle and polite girl she was day-to-day. A gambling table slowly rose in front of her. The dark green felt was laid flat, and golden-dusted chips poured from the air, stacking into a small mountain in an instant.
"What do you want to do?" Natsu Kuri stood up shakily, her hands pressing against the gambling table just to support her body.
"Before I leave, let's play two interesting little games. You have no right to negotiate with me. My chips are infinite."
Xu Xiaoyou stepped to the table and pushed over the mountain of chips. She placed two M1911 handguns lightly on the table. With a series of movements from her long, nimble fingers that looked like a magic trick, the intact firearms were disassembled into two identical piles of components.
"And the stakes you need to wager for these two games are the lives of your two remaining companions."
Hearing this, the two people suspended above struggled violently, their iron chains clinking sharply.
The blood in Natsu Kuri's veins slowed and chilled. She exhaled cold air as her feverish mind finally calmed. She no longer held onto any naive or beautiful illusions about what was happening.
Xu Xiaoyou was a true devil. She had watched the girl kill her companion with her own eyes. If she continued to be willful, she would lose the rest of her companions one by one.
No matter what, she had to save the only things she had left, even if she had to crawl. Losing everything was not her style. At the very least, she had to win this game the other girl spoke of!
"If I win, let them go," Natsu Kuri said, her words squeezed through clenched teeth, her gums nearly bleeding.
"Of course, my dear little family head," Xu Xiaoyou said with a smile.
On the other side of the gambling table, the dark-red-haired girl's gaze no longer wavered. She had secretly made a certain resolution.
But she had clearly overlooked one thing.
When the devil makes a promise, they never truly smile.
Rate on N.U.
