"Hey. Hey, wake up! Go back to your home, jeez…" Donovan said as he lightly kicked the sleeping Layla on the side. No response. He kicked her again.
Finally, Layla sat up on the sofa sluggishly. She stretched her arms with a yawn. "Ugh, what time is it…?"
"It's exactly 6 in the morning. Go back to your home, damn it. Don't sleep in my place…" He then went to the kitchen to make a cup of coffee. He had a bandage on his neck, and he was finding it difficult to move his left shoulder.
It was now the 2nd of February.
After a few minutes, she scratched her head. "I told you last night. I was supposed to return home after uh, killing you, but I 'failed' my mission, and I haven't returned home… So there's obviously members of the organization waiting at my, uh… place…"
Why the awkward pause at the end? "Yeah, yeah…" Donovan returned to the living room, and offered her a cup of coffee as he sat from across her.
Taking a sip of the coffee, Layla cleared her throat. "So, here's the plan. First—"
"Wait, wait, wait." Donovan quickly interrupted her. "I appreciate the enthusiasm, but I am not going on an infiltration mission with you."
"This again? Why not?"
"Because…! It's a bad idea, alright? You want me to infiltrate a crime organization that's been running for who knows how long, and is being led by someone named 'Begrimed Foul Hand of the Black Death'? Yeah, no thanks…"
"Come on…! It'll be fun, I promise. Won't you help out a damsel in distress? Once they find out that I've quit the organization, they'll hunt me down!"
"Then why don't you just keep reporting to them? You don't have the curse anymore anyway."
"No way! I'm done with dancing in the palm of their hand… Even if I'm no longer 'cursed,' doing work for them is enough to drive anyone crazy. I became a Visitor to exterminate Annihiliths. But since I've joined the Plague Rats, I've… been killing other Visitors instead."
Donovan sighed. "What was your role again?"
"I'm an enforcer. Or a hit man. Whatever." She took a sip of her coffee. "This is good coffee."
After a while, Donovan said, "Why don't we just report them to the authorities?"
"No, no way! Even some of the cops are secretly associated with the organization… If you breathe a word about this to a cop who's actually corrupt and is associating with the organization, then the organization will hear about it and they'll hunt you down." Layla finished her cup of coffee and added, "Hey, you said you were being backed by Hana Isabelle herself. Just ask her for help…?"
"…Uh, it's complicated. She's too busy for something like this."
"So a crime organization is too trivial a matter for her, huh?"
Speaking about her, could it be that she's watching me right now? I hope not… Donovan finished his cup of coffee as well.
She has blood on her hands. She's killed people already. I don't know how many. Should I even be helping someone like her?
"…Either way, I'm not infiltrating a crime organization. I don't want my life to end prematurely."
"…Tch. Then what do I do? I really, really, really don't want to see their faces again. I don't want to work for them anymore!" She groaned while scratching her head. "Hey. Please, can I stay at your apartment for a while?"
"What? No, absolutely not."
"Come on…! You're such a killjoy. If you kick me out, and you find me dead in a ditch somewhere, then know that it'll all be your fault."
Donovan face palmed. This woman…
Layla continued speaking, "Who wouldn't want to be with a woman in the same apartment as them? I'm pretty sure I'm a feast for the eyes. Heck, I'm very beautiful. Who in their right mind would kick me out? Could it be that you're gay? You're only interested in men, and not women? No wonder you didn't do a thing to me last night when I was pretending to be asleep for a long while."
Donovan was speechless. He managed to blurt out, "No, I—"
"I'm staying here, and that's final. Capisce?"
"…"
With a sigh of exasperation, Donovan massaged both of his temples. "…Alright…"
"Great!" she said with a clap of her hands. "I'll be staying here until things blow over and the organization forgets about me."
I'm starting to think that it would've been better if I had agreed to infiltrate the organization with her… Goodbye, my privacy… Still, I can't fully trust her yet. I have to be on my guard with her at all times.
Suddenly, Layla seemed to have remembered something. "Ah! Also, where the heck did you put my umbrella?!"
"Ah… My bad." Donovan went to get her umbrella from under the bed. After giving it to her, he immediately raised his alarms and was prepared to jump towards his own umbrella.
But fortunately, nothing happened. He then asked, "Are you going to stay inside my apartment without going out? What about your missions?"
Layla looked at him as though he was crazy. "Are you serious? Do you even know the fact that almost every Visitor in this city is already quite rich? I can handle… uh, three weeks of no missions."
"Won't that get you demoted, possibly back to Drizzle Rank? You're Category 5 of Shower, aren't you?"
Hearing his words, Layla was at a loss. "Right… That's a thing. Uh… I'll come up with something."
Donovan sighed. She's hopeless…
"Hey, I'm hungry. Go make breakfast," she said.
Seriously, this woman… Donovan suppressed a sigh and went to the button with the word "Chef" on it.
Seeing this, Layla hurriedly said, "No, no, don't do that. I don't like eating food made by these filthy robots."
"Don't tell me what to do in my own home."
"I'm just saying that human-made food is better than food made by AI."
"What's the difference? They taste almost the same."
"Tsk, tsk. Sigh… You poor thing. You've been so used to eating food made by that chef robot of yours that you've completely forgotten what a meal made by a human tastes like!"
"…The chef robot is technologically advanced and they can come up with amazing recipes with good ingredients—"
"Bah! Screw AI! Food made by human hands and the human mind is better than food made by steel hands. I know this because I have very excellent taste buds and an excellent sense of smell. I was born with such an amazing gift."
"Okay, okay, fine. So, what, do I cook it myself?"
"Obviously? Let me guess, you've forgotten how to cook because you've been using the chef robot for such a long time now. Or… you just can't cook well."
"I can cook."
"Then cook."
With a sigh, Donovan reluctantly went to the kitchen. Layla turned on the TV.
After a while, to her surprise, he seemed to be actually pretty good at cooking. Donovan finished cooking a few minutes later.
He placed on the table what seemed to be omelet rice with some meat.
"Rice? Wow, you keep rice, huh?" She was surprised.
"Rice is good," said Donovan. He was telling the truth on this. In his previous life as Leon Valentin, he loved rice very much. And it was the same for the original Donovan Volgard.
As Layla was about to eat, Donovan tensed. This was the first time in a very long time that he cooked for someone. So, it was normal to be anxious. After all, Layla herself said that she had excellent taste buds.
Layla finally ate.
"…"
After a while, she hummed. "Pretty good. Good job on the seasoning."
Upon hearing this, Donovan inwardly let out a sigh of relief.
"I can cook it better, though," she suddenly said.
"Yeah, yeah…" Donovan ate as well. Last night, he had dinner with Sylvia. Now, he was having breakfast with Layla. Hm. This makes me feel uneasy. Good things are happening to me. Is something bad about to happen to me in the near future? If so, then it'd probably involve Ms. Isabelle or something…
They ate together in silence. Eventually, Layla finished first. "That hit the spot…" Suddenly, she spotted his PC in the distance.
With a hum, she asked, "You have video games on your PC? Let me play." Upon hearing this, Donovan suppressed the urge to face palm.
"No. That's off-limits."
"Then what about a console? Do you have those? Let me play, come on."
Yeah, things really would've been better if I had infiltrated the organization instead… Donovan swallowed his food and said, "Under the TV. Just don't touch any of the story games. Just play something competitive."
"I know, I know, jeez. I understand the feeling of letting someone play on your device." With that, she went to the living room.
Donovan finished eating and went to wash the dishes. He was planning to go out today, but since there was a woman who he didn't know much of playing on his console inside his apartment, he changed his mind. He still didn't trust her.
While Layla was in the middle of playing a first-person shooter game, Donovan sat beside her and said, "Hey. I can trust you, right?"
"What's this all of a sudden?"
"Just answer me. I can trust you, right?"
"Obviously, you can. Don't worry, I won't do a thing to you. You're letting me live here rent-free, after all."
"That reminds me, what about your own apartment? Don't you have important things there?"
"Did you see the apartment building that was in flames last night? Yeah, I lived there. So, I really needed a place to live."
Ah… Right, that incident from last night. She lived there, huh? Damn. And she still went to try and finish her mission with the knowledge that she no longer had a place to live… Doesn't this mean that she lied about organization members waiting at her place? Right, and there was that slight hesitation from earlier when she said "place," like she struggled to say it… At that moment, Donovan's view of her slightly changed.
"…I'm sorry."
Her expression softened and she chuckled. "Sorry for what? Don't worry about it, I'll come up with something. Hey, if you feel bad for me, then how about letting me live here permanently, hm?"
"No."
"Killjoy."
With that, Layla focused on the video game.
Oh well. Screw it, I'll "trust" in her words for now. Donovan was about to get out of the sofa when he suddenly caught a glimpse of her gameplay and ended up watching it.
Wow… She's terrible…
"Calm down. Stop shaking so much. There, see? You died. Just keep your composure," he said.
"Shut up. I haven't played a video game in a long time, okay?"
She kept on fumbling and dying. In fact, her own teammates were starting to trash talk her instead of the enemies. Donovan couldn't bear to watch. He then said, "Switch with me."
"Fine…"
Donovan played skillfully. In just a matter of seconds, he already had the most amount of kills. It was as though the younger sibling went away to do something and the older sibling took over.
The unexpected development of the match surprised the teammates and the enemies. In the end, Donovan carried his team and won the game flawlessly. He ended up receiving a lot of praise from his teammates.
"Wow… You're quite the gamer, huh?" she said with a teasing smile.
Donovan gave the console back to her, and said, "I just happen to be average at video games."
"Hah. 'Average' my ass. Don't try to be humble."
"Anyway, don't play too much of this game. It's addicting and bad for your mental health if you keep losing," said Donovan. With that, he got out of the sofa and headed for the bathroom to brush his teeth.
Suddenly, Layla said in a soft, low voice, "Thank you."
Hearing this, Donovan paused in his steps. He opened his mouth with the intention to say "For what?" but he didn't.
Whether her gratitude was because of him removing the death curse on her with the necklace, giving her a place to live, making breakfast for her, or helping her win the game, he didn't need to know.
All he knew was that on this particular day, he had made a new friend.