Arc 2 - Chapter 7: The Trickster (2/3)

"I see you were very happy, laughing and laughing," Yurine said. After breakfast, they left Lucia's house and went to Marino Swann.

"I can't sulk around people."

He would rather give people fake smiles than let them see him sad.

He didn't believe what he was doing was wrong. Most people hid behind masks like Yu did.

Keeping problems inside, not showing weakness to other people, always answering 'I'm fine' when asked 'how are you.'

Even if a person had a problem, they were afraid to talk about it. One wanted society to see him as a great person. So they would always show people their good side, even if it was fake.

Some people did it on social media, others in real life. Yu didn't see the difference.

"You sulk when you're around me. Impudent person, don't you like being around me?"

"I never said that."

He was happy to have someone by his side, he couldn't do all this alone. In fact, he wouldn't even be alive if he was alone.

"I'm glad you're with me." If it wasn't Yurine, he didn't know who would have been there for him. She was one of the best people to accompany Yu in the Second World. "But I wish you would be kind to me."

"I'm only kind to people who deserve it, not murderers."

Yu suddenly stopped where he was and fell silent. His eyes dropped to the floor and he could not look up again. His lips trembled and he wanted to speak, but no sound came out of his throat. His eyes were suddenly full and his fists were clenched.

Yu stopped suddenly and Yurine had to stop too. As she tried to understand what had happened, she noticed the blood running down Yu's hand and let out a strange growl that Yu couldn't understand. Yu was clenching his fist so hard that his nails were digging into his palm.

"Murderer..." he muttered. He was trying hard to stay calm. "Murderer?"

He repeated the same word, this time as a question. His back was to Yurine and he didn't want to face her and show her his lips, which were pursed in pain. In the meantime, he felt his nose burning and the tears were about to overflow.

"A murderer? I did what I had to do!" Yu suddenly raised his voice, but his trembling voice belied the anger he harbored. He continued, waving his arms as if he was going to tear them off as he spoke. "If I hadn't done it, I would have died. That nigger would have died! His family... Who knows what his family would have done for living?! Who knows what street corner his wife and daughters would be whoring on! I saved their lives!"

It had happened, the tears had overflowed. He didn't turn away as the tears rolled down his cheeks, so as not to give Yurine the impression of weakness, but the way he kicked the floor, the way he punched a wall, gave Yurine enough of the pathetic impression she needed to see.

"Why is what I did bad? Why should I be wrong? If it wasn't for me, wouldn't Pepe have sent someone else to kill him? Wouldn't Camaeron have died anyway? Was it obvious that he would have gotten a happy ending if it wasn't for me? No..." Yu spoke quickly, without taking a breath. He didn't know what he was saying, he was just saying the first words that came to his tongue to defend himself. "If he was going to die, then why shouldn't his death serve a good purpose?"

At the last sentence Yu's voice got lower and lower, thinner and thinner.

"I did nothing wrong... I didn't... I didn't..." Yu felt the anger permeating his cells again and this time he screamed at the top of his lungs. "I DID NOT!"

And he did it, making Yurine let out a high-pitched scream of horror. He didn't want to do it, but even if he didn't, it happened. Hearing her scream, Yu suddenly turned around, fell to his knees and spoke fervently, again without breathing.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell, I didn't mean to scare you, I know, Yurine, I'm wrong, I know I am. I am sorry, I am sorry…"

He reached out to take Yurine's hands, but the little girl pulled away from him.

Yurine's step back had hurt Yu's heart much worse than the Camaeron incident. His heart was bleeding and Yu knew it.

As he continued to look at Yurine with reddened eyes, he thought, "I am an asshole... I'm lying to myself..."

Yu knew he was lying. He was a murderer and he knew it. Yurine was absolutely right to use that word. Yu Valarfin was a murderer.

She wiped her tears with the back of her hand and apologized again. "I apologize. I know you're right, I was just being an asshole. I am so sorry."

But Yurine didn't speak. When Yurine didn't speak, Yu had to speak again.

"Please, let's pretend this scene never happened." He stood up and turned around. He was going to start moving forward, but he stopped in his tracks, thinking his eyes were red. "Please," he repeated.

***

Even he had decided to forget the scene, Yurine might not have made the same decision. He kept looking at her as they walked to the post office to see what she was thinking, but her face was the same expression she usually wore. It conveyed no emotion.

"Yurine," he said when they came across Marino's post office. He was still trying to understand Yurine's feelings, but she didn't even look at Yu, let alone answer him.

Unable to win Yurine's attention, he swallowed the words he wanted to say and walked into the post office.

"How can I help you?"

As soon as they entered the post office, they met a security guard. The man with rabbit ears was pouting like Yu.

"A fucking security with rabbit ears? It's not deterrent."

He must have been unhappy that he didn't get the salary he deserved because of Marino's bad economic situation.

There were no customers inside, but the few employees were as unhappy as the security guards.

"I'm here to see Mr. Swann."

"Mr. Swann is in his room, you can see him there." The security guard chose his words respectfully, but his tone was dismissive. He just pointed to his room without even bothering to inform Marino.

He wasn't going to talk to him and discuss their attitude towards their boss. He walked into Marino's room without making eye contact with the other employees inside.

"Mr. Swann?"

Yu knocked lightly on the door twice and there was the sound of something hitting the floor. Then Marino's hard footsteps were heard, indicating that he was running, and the door opened.

"Mr. Valarfin, welcome."

Marino said Yu's name so passionately that Yu thought for a moment that he liked him.

There was admiration and gratitude at the same time in Marino's dark eyes. He buttoned his open jacket in front of Yu, who had saved his life.

"This is the first time I see that there are others here besides us."

As Yu entered the room with Yurine, he saw that it was Marino's chair that had fallen on the floor.

"I didn't think you would come in the morning, did you have breakfast? Do you want me to order something to eat? Bring some drinks too-"

"Let's just talk business."

Yu couldn't carry Camaeron's body with him, so he cut off his head and threw the body into the sea, worried that someone would find it.

When they returned, they looked at the man who escorting Camaeron, but he was not where he had fallen.

"I have to be careful about him, he's probably someone Camaeron paid off, but I don't want to have a avenger on my tail."

That man was weaker than Yurine. He couldn't cause trouble if Yu was always by Yurine's side.

When he went to Pepe Don with Camaeron's head, the loan shark clapped his hands in joy and released Marino, giving him two more months.

From that second on, Marino's thanks to Yu were endless.

"As you wish. Please sit down, make yourself at home."

"Do I need to explain the plan again?"

He and Yurine sat opposite each other on the two armchairs across the table.

Marino adjusted his chair and nodded his head in both directions as he sat down. "I remember every word of it, Mr. Valarfin."

"Good. I want a fair deal. Forty-nine percent of the money from the people we send letters to will be yours, forty-nine percent mine and two percent Yurine's."

Yurine's two percent sort of made Yu a major partner in the deal. Even though it was small, it was a detail Yu wanted to point out.

"Of course, whatever you want."

Marino looked like he was going to accept whatever Yu had to offer. Yu didn't know what he was thinking after they had parted ways last night, but now he was ready to surrender himself to him completely.

"I'll do the thinking and you do the rest. The money for the work will come out of your pocket, and you will carefully select all the employees you bring into the business, and the share you give them will be out of your forty-nine percent. As I said, since I'm the one who came up with the idea, I don't want to spend out of my pocket."

"I understand, you can leave it to me."

When there was nothing more to be said on the money side of things, it was time to talk about security issues.

"If even one of the people you choose to help you betrays us, it will be your betrayal, and if one of us betrays another, that person's soul will be shattered, it will not go to heaven or anywhere else; it will be lost forever."

"I don't understand this?"

"Yurine, will you prepare the agreement?"

He would have preferred to explain it to Marino by showing him. Yurine stretched out her palm and formed a small white orb of light. The orb flew and landed on Yu's palm.

"We will make a magical agreement that is more reliable than words and writings. In addition to what we have just said, no one will covet the other's share, no one will talk about it during or after the work, if one party is caught, they will not talk about the other, and at the end of the work they will forget the other party completely. The price of betrayal is the shattering of the soul. Please make sure you understand the seriousness of the matter."

He might have saved his life and Marino was grateful to him, but he was not going to rely only on his gratitude and keep the deal to words, he was going to scare him with the magical pact and win his total loyalty.

"I realize, I will honor our agreement."

Marino squeezed Yu's hand and the orb of light Yurine had created disappeared between the two men's palms.

"I will come back in the evening, until then, choose the people who will help you and bring them here. Choose them well. Remember, their betrayal is your betrayal. When I get here, we will start writing the letters."

"Is there anything you want? Dinner or drinks or anything?"

"Paper, pen and ink. And water. Don't waste your money."

"Got it."

He didn't want to do business with a person who wasted his money while he was in debt.

"If you have nothing to say, I have other things to do, I have to go. See you tonight."

"No, no, Mr. Valarfin. Goodbye, and please let me know if you need anything."

Yu thanked him in a low voice. The idea of needing someone who was no good to him was humiliating.