It was Saturday and today I was meant to hang out with Yukimura and Gaisen. If this was the past me, then I would’ve denied this plan or would have invited them over to play games with me instead.

But depending on my current circumstances, heading out with them was the most appropriate option. Both of them were surprised that I agreed to this plan so easily. Yukimura has threatened to shove an arrow up my butt if I dip at the last minute so that wasn’t an option anymore.

Since Gaisen is coming too, I could use this opportunity to gain some more information on Yasurouka from his perspective. I had a certain image of her that I formed by talking with her in the past few days.

I was sitting on my bed, chatting with Yukimura and Gaisen about today’s plan. Since I was going with them, I undertook the planning and act accordingly.

The bedroom door opened with the creaking sound of the metal hinges. I looked in that direction and saw Lilith entering the room.

“How’s your plan going on?” She asked as she sat beside me on the bed and peeked inside my mobile.

“Nothing much,” I gave her a vague answer.

“Huh? Well I don’t imagine a loner like you going out on plans like these.” She laughed.

“Remember what happened last time when you said this?” I pinched her nose lightly.

Last time she did this, I slammed the door on her face and it hurt her nose. I felt oddly satisfied after doing that.

“Y… Yes!” She slapped my hand off her nose and glared at me while covering her nose with her left arm.

“Your glare lacks the killing intent, Devil-chan.” I said, while looking at her.

“Of course, because I don’t want to kill you.” She chuckled.

“Hooo, you don’t want to kill me anymore?”

“Why would I?”

“Nothing, just interesting.” I nodded, as her composure has been friendly ever since last week. I was a bit suspicious of her acting all buddy with me after threatening to kill me for an entire month.

It was 4 pm, and I walked up to my wardrobe. Opening the door, I picked up the first thing that my eyes caught on to. I didn’t have a variety of clothes, most of them were dark coloured.

I took off the t-shirt I was wearing and threw it on Lilith’s face.

“Hey! You little piece of-” She removed it from her face and looked at me.

“Uh, Sakamaki-kun, I wanted to ask you something. There’s something which caught my attention from the day I met you.” She said while staring at me.

“What?” I asked. There was a brief moment of silence between us.

I followed her gaze and it was locked on the left side of my waist. I knew exactly what she was looking at.

“I don’t want to talk about it right now.” I said before she could continue.

She looked at and our eyes met for a split second before I looked away. She made me remember something which I hadn’t thought about in a long time.

Well, she isn’t the first person to ask about that and it’s not her fault that she asked about it. It will always be the sign of the burden that I’ll carry around for my entire life. I can ignore it, stop thinking about it, but at the end of the day, it’s a part of me.

I quickly wore my black coloured sweatshirt and changed into my dark blue trousers.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have asked…”

“It’s okay.” I ran my hand through my hair and took a deep breath.

“Anyway, see you later.” I said that and left my apartment.

Lilith has become a bit considerate recently. I like this side of her. It’s been a lot easier to communicate with her now. Maybe me going crazy that night and telling her everything broke the tension between us. Or maybe I’m overthinking this.

I was walking when my mobile vibrated. I took it out of my pocket and noticed that Gaisen was calling me. I picked his call.

“Ayo, where are you?” His static voice coming over from the other side of the phone.

“On my way.”

“We are meeting at the place you texted about, right?”

“Yes.”

“Roger that!” With that he disconnected the call. I could tell by his voice that he was way too energetic.

I texted them to meet in front of a mall. It was in the centre of the downtown plaza and, as expected, it was crowded. This was a weekend so many other people were also there as they’ve probably planned the same thing as us.

After walking in the crowd, I finally made it to the mall and noticed both of them waiting in front of the restaurant gates while talking to each other.

“Yo” I greeted them.

“Oh, you finally arrived.” Gaisen said. He was wearing a yellow t-shirt with a cyan coloured shirt over it with the buttons open. The sleeves were folded up, which exposed his muscular forearms.

“Of course. You remember the arrow, right?” Yukimura glanced at me with a smug. He was wearing a cream coloured shirt with checked patterns on it. And to compliment it, he was wearing some black jeans. He also had a locket around his neck.

“You two… I feel underdressed now.” I pulled up the sleeves of my sweatshirt.

“Ah, your inferiority complex is hitting in again.” Gaisen chuckled as he put his mobile back in his pocket after texting someone. Or at least that’s what it seemed like to me.

“You know the reason I’m not getting a girlfriend is because of him.” Yukimura said as he put his arm around me and chuckled.

“Bruh moment!” We all shared a laugh.

“So what’s the plan? Let’s eat first as I’m hungry.” Gaisen said while pointing at the restaurant beside us with his eyes. He was the kind of guy who loved eating as well as cooking. I, on the other hand, only enjoyed eating. Though I can cook, it’s due to me living alone, that’s why I had to learn to cook.

I checked the nearby restaurants around this location so that we wouldn’t have trouble searching for them. Out of all the restaurants I saw, this one was the best deal. They had delicious food at a reasonable price. At least for us students, this was a nice place.

“Well, let’s head in then.” Yukimura started walking toward the restaurant. Since I already did my research, I followed him with no complaints.

We headed inside the restaurant since our plan was really simple. We only wanted to eat and talk with each other in peace after so long. And after eating, we might take a walk around this area too.