38: Negotiation

After an hour, the leader of the military group came out of Yuriko's office with a darkened expression, after all, he had come up with a slightly favorable proposal.

"That was cruel, I like it" - said Cloud as he sat down on the sofa in Yuriko's office, who seemed to be pensive - "Is something wrong?"

"Yes, I have a few questions" - Yuriko replied as she frowned slightly - "I'd like you to tell me what will happen in the future"

"That might cause you to have fewer months to live" - Cloud said with a frown.

"I don't care" - Yuriko replied as she shook her head.

Cloud was silent before letting out a sigh and coming clean - "I'm sorry, but I can't do it, not because I don't want to, but because I don't know what will happen in the future."

"Excuse me?" - Yuriko exclaimed in surprise, only to frown - "Please don't tease me."

"I'm not kidding, the truth is that it's impossible to know what will happen in the future, in fact, there's no one who can know, because..." - Cloud said as he was silent for a few seconds before shaking his head - "Ok, I'm going to tell you something important, the information I had about your world, is through a [manga]"

"A manga?" - Yuriko repeated with a frown - "Are you saying that we are fictional people?"

"No, you are real, it's just that the "creators" of your story in my world, managed to create a connection with this world, and thus pass everything he saw as a story for our enjoyment" - replied Cloud as he tried to explain the situation as best he could.

Yuriko was silent for a few seconds while trying to understand the confused words of the blond boy - "Now, let me see if I understood correctly, you say that our world is real, and all the information that you know, is a product of the person who managed to connect with our dimension..."

"Exactly" - nodded Cloud calmly.

"He died?" - Yuriko asked with a frown.

"Correct" - Cloud nodded again, though he quickly frowned - "That aside, I think we'd better change the subject."

Yuriko remained silent as she felt like she wanted to choke someone, after all, she had sacrificed so much of her life for a few words, which made her feel like a fool.

Cloud remained silent because he could feel what was going through the purple haired woman's mind, that's why he decided not to say anything, after all, he didn't want to earn the hatred of Saya's mother.

"Tell me, Cloud... Is there really a way you can save me, or did you just say that to make me feel better?" - Yuriko asked as she let out a sigh, after all, she didn't know what to believe in anymore.

"It exists, although I can't do it now because..." - Cloud paused, after all, this was much more important information than the previous one.

"Let me guess, it has to be when you leave this world" - Yuriko said while folding her arms, which made the blond open his mouth - "Surprised that I deduced something like that? Well, it was easy after I took a different approach, I mean, if you were able to enter our world, that means you can leave, and potentially take me with you, that would save me... Right?"

"Yes," Cloud nodded as he appreciated the purple-haired woman's intelligence. He finally understood where Saya had gotten her heightened intellect from.

"Does it have to be specifically during your departure from this world?" - Yuriko asked as she frowned because honestly, she didn't like the idea of feeling her body getting weaker and weaker.

Cloud was silent as he asked the system if there was any way to change this "rule."

[The system can make an exception, although this will only apply once, you could say that it is a special service, so it is advisable that you think about it more calmly. By the way, the moment you apply for this "exception", Yuriko's recruitment requirements will increase drastically as a method to "balance" this deal].

Cloud maintained his silence before replying to Yuriko that there was a possibility to solve her problem immediately, although he would have to meet certain conditions.

"I understand, and I am willing to accept your conditions, I do not wish to continue to feel this suffering called slowly losing my strength" - Yuriko replied with a frown, after all, she was a cold, strong and calculating woman. She did not wish to continue to weaken until she fell into a wheelchair.

With each passing day, she felt weaker and weaker, to the point that starting to walk certain distances caused her to tire. She did not want her daughter to notice her increasingly precarious situation, not to mention that she could not show weakness, not when she was the last pillar of her late husband's Yakuza clan.

"I accept the proposal" - Yuriko repeated as she took a long breath - "Please tell me the requirements you need to fulfill to make me your partner."

Cloud was silent before checking the system and receiving the information he wanted.

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[Yuriko Takagi: Recruitment Requirements]

1- [Save Saya Takagi (Completed)]

2- [Gain her recognition (Completed)]

3- [To be strong enough (Completed)]

4- [Soichiro Takagi's approval (Completed)]

5- [Having saved her from her abrupt fate (Completed)]

6- [Affinity with Saya Takagi of 50 (Completed)]

7- [Affinity with Yuriko Takagi of 100 (Completed)]

8- [Number of enemy casualties: 400 (Completed)]

[Recruitment Requirements have been successfully completed]

[The system has accepted the exception, and it is possible to recruit the character [Yuriko Takagi] immediately, designated a new recruitment condition as compensation...].

9- [Substitution: Make your presence in Yuriko's heart equal or greater than that of Soichiro Takagi].

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Cloud froze when he read the last recruitment condition, only to let out a sigh - "This is a bit more complicated than I thought..."

"Cloud?" - Yuriko asked with a frown.

"Sorry, I got rambling" - Cloud replied as he explained the situation.

Yuriko was silent before she felt her cheeks flush, though there was something that left her confused.

"You're saying Soichiro approved of us?" - Yuriko asked in surprise, only to frown again - "That doesn't make sense... unless..."

"He wished you would find someone else to make you happy" - Cloud replied as he let out a sigh - "Maybe he was in the mindset that if he was going to die, he at least wanted you not to live your life alone..."

Yuriko bit her lip before letting out a sigh because this was something that idiot would do, I mean, she was aware of how much he loved her, that's why she felt guilty and had tried to kill the blond so many times over the past few years as a method of hiding her horrible side. A stupid distorted sense produced by her desire to deflect her guilt, though that didn't matter now that everything had changed.

"Why am I acting so stupidly?" - Yuriko muttered as she shook her head. She had decided to enjoy her last few months of life as best she could, but every time she thought of her late husband her thoughts seemed to return to a twisted state of culpability.

"Guilt" - Cloud replied as he shook his head, after all, he felt the same way, even now that he knew Soichiro approved of his relationship with his wife - "God, this is horrible."

"It's ironic that we just now feel this horrible, when in the past we didn't seem to care" - Yuriko said as she walked next to the blond and sat down on the couch, though not before making sure that the door was closed so that no one would interrupt them.

"I guess that shows how much we cared about that man" - Cloud replied as he shook his head - "Honestly, I wish he would have informed us about this earlier, at least that way..."

Yuriko simply shook her head, if indeed Soichiro supported them in this and didn't mind them having fun, she wouldn't feel so guilty, even the "recruitment" would be much easier, but that wasn't the case, and now she felt horrible that she had betrayed the trust of a man who even with his bad situation, had forgiven her and supported her in this strange relationship.

"The more I think about it, the more I feel like we're overthinking" - Cloud said while frowning, he quickly grabbed the woman by the waist and pressed her against the couch.

Yuriko let out a small cry of surprise, only to feel how the blond pressed his lips on hers.

Slowly, she started to get in the mindset for something more daring, so she slowly moved her hands in the direction of the boy's manhood, who simply let out a grunt.

"Are you saying we're being too much of a jerk?" - Yuriko asked while frowning slightly.

"I think that instead of focusing on the past, we should be thinking about the future" - said Cloud while looking the woman straight in the eyes - "Soichiro approves of us, and forgave us, not to mention that no matter how much we try to deny it, we are attracted to each other every time we are together, to the point that there are times when it is hard to resist the desire after having experienced it so many times."